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Head-to-head comparison

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max

Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI) and Qwen3.8 Max (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 18 August 2026

As of 18 August 2026, Qwen3.8 Max holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#6 vs #38); Qwen3.8 Max is 1.3× cheaper per output token ($6.00/1M vs $7.50/1M); and Qwen3.8 Max offers the longer context window (1M vs 262K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 if…

  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $1.50/1M against $2.00/1M.

Choose Qwen3.8 Max if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #6 against #38 (80.4 vs 53.9 points).
  • API cost matters — $6.00/1M output tokens against $7.50/1M, about 1.3× cheaper.
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 262K.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1529 against 1479.
  • LMArena Agent is your yardstick — 7.6% against -7.0%.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 58.1 against 30.4.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3.8 Max was listed 3 August 2026, Mistral Medium 3.5 30 April 2026.

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mistral Medium 3.5 and Qwen3.8 Max
FieldMistral Medium 3.5Mistral AIQwen3.8 MaxQwen
ModelCap Index position#38#6
Index score53.980.4
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$1.50$2.00
Output price / 1M tokens$7.50$6.00
Context window262K tokens1M tokens
Max output tokens—131K
API providers listed11
Weight accessAPI onlyAPI only
Input modalitiesText, Image, FileText, Image, Video
First listed30 April 20263 August 2026
PublisherMistral AIQwen

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · 5 public benchmark observations across 5 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max

Public benchmark boards where Mistral Medium 3.5 or Qwen3.8 Max has a published result
BoardMistral Medium 3.5Qwen3.8 MaxLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14791468–149015291516–1542Qwen3.8 Max
LMArena AgentLMArena-7.0%-9.0%–-5.0%7.6%6.0%–9.2%Qwen3.8 Max
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis30.4intelligence-index58.1intelligence-indexQwen3.8 Max
WildClawBench OpenClawWildClawBench—56.2Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max: common questions

Is Mistral Medium 3.5 better than Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 18 August 2026: #6 against #38. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Mistral Medium 3.5 cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper on output tokens: $6.00/1M against $7.50/1M. Input tokens are $1.50/1M for Mistral Medium 3.5 and $2.00/1M for Qwen3.8 Max. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Medium 3.5 or Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 262K.

Which is better for coding, Mistral Medium 3.5 or Qwen3.8 Max?

Arena coding: Mistral Medium 3.5 1479, Qwen3.8 Max 1529 — Qwen3.8 Max leads.

Are Mistral Medium 3.5 and Qwen3.8 Max open-weight models?

Mistral Medium 3.5: API only. Qwen3.8 Max: API only. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Mistral Medium 3.5 and Qwen3.8 Max?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Mistral Medium 3.5 and 1 for Qwen3.8 Max, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 18 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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