Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking vs Mistral Medium 3
Pricing verdict: Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking vs Mistral Medium 3: Mistral Medium 3 is cheaper for input-heavy usage ($0.40/M vs $0.75/M input tokens), while Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking is better for long-context tasks (131,072 tokens).
Direct answer: choose Mistral Medium 3 for lower token spend and choose Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking when your workload needs longer context.
Compare API pricing, input and output token costs, context windows, and monthly estimates on one page so you can pick the right model fast.
Cost Comparison (1000 input + 500 output tokens, 100 requests/day)
Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking
Mistral Medium 3
Cost Differences
Mistral Medium 3 costs less than Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking
Quick Recommendation
Winner for direct API pricing: Mistral Medium 3. At the default workload, Mistral Medium 3 saves about $4.80/month ($58.40/year) versus Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking | Mistral Medium 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral AI | |
| Input Price | $0.75/1M tokens | $0.40/1M tokens |
| Output Price | $4.50/1M tokens | $2.00/1M tokens |
| Context Window | 131,072 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max Output | 65,536 tokens | 16,384 tokens |
| Category | reasoning | balanced |
| Capabilities | textvisionaudiovideoreasoningstreaming | textcode |
| Release Date | 9/15/2026 | 5/7/2025 |
Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking vs Mistral Medium 3: Which Should You Choose?
Choosing between Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking and Mistral Medium 3 depends on your priorities: cost efficiency, context length, or raw capability. Mistral Medium 3 is the more affordable option at $0.40/1M input tokens — 47% cheaper than Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking. Meanwhile, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking offers a significantly larger context window at 131,072 tokens vs 128,000 for Mistral Medium 3.
These models come from different providers — Google and Mistral AI — which means different API ecosystems, SDKs, rate limits, and terms of service. If you're already integrated with Google, switching to Mistral AIinvolves migration effort beyond just pricing. Factor in your existing infrastructure when deciding.
These models target different tiers: Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking is a reasoning model while Mistral Medium 3 is balanced. This means they're optimized for different workloads. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking is built for complex tasks that require deeper reasoning, while Mistral Medium 3 offers better value for routine operations.
Output costs matter too. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking charges $4.50/1M output tokens vs $2.00 for Mistral Medium 3. For generation-heavy workloads (content creation, code generation, summarization), output pricing often dominates your bill. Mistral Medium 3 has the edge here at $2.00/1M output tokens.
Multimodal capabilities: Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking supports vision (image inputs) while Mistral Medium 3 is text-only. If your application needs image understanding, this narrows your choice.
Best Use Cases
Choose Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking when:
- • You need a larger context window (131,072 tokens)
- • You need more capabilities (vision, audio, video, reasoning, streaming)
- • You need longer outputs (up to 65,536 tokens)
- • You're already using Google's API ecosystem
Choose Mistral Medium 3 when:
- • Budget is a primary concern
- • You're already using Mistral AI's API ecosystem
Pros and Caveats at a Glance
Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking
- • Input pricing: $0.75/M tokens
- • Output pricing: $4.50/M tokens
- • Context window: 131,072 tokens
- • Max output: 65,536 tokens
Watch out for
- • Higher input cost than Mistral Medium 3
- • Higher output cost than Mistral Medium 3
Mistral Medium 3
- • Input pricing: $0.40/M tokens
- • Output pricing: $2.00/M tokens
- • Context window: 128,000 tokens
- • Max output: 16,384 tokens
Watch out for
- • Smaller context window than Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking
Try Different Scenarios
Use the calculator below to see how costs change with different usage patterns
Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking (Google)
Mistral Medium 3 (Mistral AI)
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