Claude vs Mistral, compared on real cost. We ran every model from both on the same example workload (chatbot, 100k requests/mo, 70% cached) so the prices line up directly. The lowest-cost model across both is Ministral 3 (3B) ($23/mo). Full table and verdict below.
At the budget end, Mistral is the lower-cost option on this workload: Claude's cheapest (Claude Haiku 4.5) is $224/mo vs Mistral's (Ministral 3 (3B)) $23/mo.
At the top end, Claude's flagship Claude Fable 5 runs $2,240/mo vs Mistral's Mistral Large 3 at $82/mo. Largest verified context window — Claude: 1M tokens; Mistral: 256k tokens.
Both are priced by the same engine, so compare your own workload in the calculator — the cheaper choice flips with your token mix and cache share.
Every model from both providers on one example workload (100k requests/mo, 2,000 input / 300 output tokens, 70% cached), cheapest first. The single lowest-cost model is highlighted.
| Model | $ input /1M | $ output /1M | $ cached /1M | ≈ $/mo * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ministral 3 (3B)BUDGETMistral | $0.10 | $0.10 | — | $23 |
| Mistral Small 4MIDMistral | $0.10 | $0.30 | — | $29 |
| Devstral Small 2BUDGETMistral | $0.10 | $0.30 | — | $29 |
| Ministral 3 (8B)BUDGETMistral | $0.15 | $0.15 | — | $34.5 |
| Ministral 3 (14B)BUDGETMistral | $0.20 | $0.20 | — | $46 |
| Mistral Large 3FRONTIERMistral | $0.50 | $1.50 | $0.05 | $82 |
| CodestralMIDMistral | $0.30 | $0.90 | — | $87 |
| Devstral 2FRONTIERMistral | $0.40 | $2 | — | $140 |
| Magistral SmallMIDMistral | $0.50 | $1.50 | — | $145 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5BUDGETAnthropic | $1 | $5 | $0.10 | $224 |
| Mistral Medium 3.5FRONTIERMistral | $1.50 | $7.50 | — | $525 |
| Magistral MediumFRONTIERMistral | $2 | $5 | — | $550 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6MIDAnthropic | $3 | $15 | $0.30 | $672 |
| Claude Opus 4.8FRONTIERAnthropic | $5 | $25 | $0.50 | $1,120 |
| Claude Fable 5FRONTIERAnthropic | $10 | $50 | $1 | $2,240 |
* Same engine as the calculator. See Claude pricing · Mistral pricing in full.