text model comparison
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Mistral Large 4
Gemini 3.8 Flash and Mistral Large 4 are both current text models, from Google and Mistral AI. Mistral Large 4 is 7% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Gemini 3.8 Flash, $0.70 vs $0.75. On Arena Text, Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 1496 Elo and Mistral Large 4 1432 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).
- Higher Arena Text
- Gemini 3.8 Flash1496 Elo against 1432 Elo
- Lower price per 1M input tokens
- Mistral Large 4$0.70 against $0.75
- Longer context window
- Gemini 3.8 Flash1.05M tokens against 1M tokens
- Newer release
- Mistral Large 4Oct 2026 against Sep 2026
Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03
Side by side
Gemini 3.8 Flash and Mistral Large 4, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Mistral Large 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $0.75 | $0.70 (better) |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $3.75 | $2.10 (better) |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | 1496 Elo (#6 of 51) (better) | 1432 Elo (#40 of 51) |
| Arena WebDev | 1583 Elo (#25 of 45) (better) | 1544 Elo (#32 of 45) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 68.4% (#26 of 42) (better) | 46.3% (#36 of 42) |
| GPQA Diamond | 95.4% (#4 of 41) (better) | 90.2% (#28 of 41) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 69.7% (#8 of 38) (better) | 22.4% (#36 of 38) |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | Mistral AI | |
| Release date | September 2, 2026 | October 6, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API and open weights |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | Not reported |
| Input | text, image, audio, video | text, image |
| Output | text | text |
Charts
Against every current text model
Where Gemini 3.8 Flash and Mistral Large 4 land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
On Arena Text, Gemini 3.8 Flash ranks #6 and Mistral Large 4 #40 of 51 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#6of 51
1,496 Elo · ahead of 90%
Mistral Large 4:#40of 51
1,432 Elo · ahead of 22%
Arena WebDev
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#25of 45
1,583 Elo · ahead of 45%
Mistral Large 4:#32of 45
1,544 Elo · ahead of 30%
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#26of 42
68.4% · ahead of 39%
Mistral Large 4:#36of 42
46.3% · ahead of 15%
GPQA Diamond
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#4of 41
95.4% · ahead of 90%
Mistral Large 4:#28of 41
90.2% · ahead of 30%
SimpleQA Verified
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#8of 38
69.7% · ahead of 78%
Mistral Large 4:#36of 38
22.4% · ahead of 5%
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#20of 52
$0.75 · cheaper than 63%
Mistral Large 4:#19of 52
$0.70 · cheaper than 65%
Price per 1M output tokens
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#23of 52
$3.75 · cheaper than 57%
Mistral Large 4:#16of 52
$2.10 · cheaper than 71%
Context window
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#11of 64
1.05M tokens · longer than 67%
Mistral Large 4:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Quality against price
Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 1,496 at $1.50; Mistral Large 4 scores 1,432 at $1.05 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.
Quality against price: the data
| Model | Provider | Blended price per 1M tokens | Arena Text (Elo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,520 | |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,509 |
| Muse Wonder | Meta | $8 | 1,507 |
| Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,496 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,495 |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,492 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,488 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,483 | |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,482 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,482 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,482 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,481 |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,477 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,477 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,476 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,476 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,467 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,465 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,465 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,462 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,458 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,456 | |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,455 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,453 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,448 |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | $1.43 | 1,448 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,441 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,441 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $1.05 | 1,432 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | $0.20 | 1,425 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,388 |
| GPT-4.1 mini | OpenAI | $0.70 | 1,383 |
| GPT-4.1 nano | OpenAI | $0.18 | 1,322 |
Cost
What each costs
Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.
The same work, priced
For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Gemini 3.8 Flash costs 1.3 times as much as Mistral Large 4, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
Gemini 3.8 Flash costs 1.3× as much
- Gemini 3.8 Flash
- $15
- Mistral Large 4
- $11.20
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
Gemini 3.8 Flash costs 1.6× as much
- Gemini 3.8 Flash
- $8.93
- Mistral Large 4
- $5.53
| Workload or rate | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Mistral Large 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $15 | $11.20 (better) |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $8.93 | $5.53 (better) |
| The same, through the batch API | $7.50 | Not listed |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.075 | $0.07 (better) |
| 1M input tokens, batch | $0.375 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, batch | $1.875 | Not listed |
| 1M input tokens, priority | $1.35 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, priority | $6.75 | Not listed |
Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.
Launch price $100, regular price $150
Verdict
When to choose each
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Where it leads
- Higher Arena Text score, 1496 Elo vs 1432 Elo
- Higher Arena WebDev score, 1583 Elo vs 1544 Elo
- Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 68.4% vs 46.3%
- Higher GPQA Diamond score, 95.4% vs 90.2%
- Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 69.7% vs 22.4%
- Accepts audio and video input
- Batch pricing, $0.375 input and $1.875 output per 1M tokens
Best for
- High-volume agentic and coding workloads where per-token cost dominates the decision
- Multimodal pipelines that need audio, video and PDF input in one model
Watch out for
- The listed price is promotional and ends 31 December 2026; on 1 January 2027 input and output both double, to $1.50 and $7.50, and cached input goes from $0.075 to $0.15
- Output pricing is billed inclusive of thinking tokens, so reasoning-heavy prompts cost more than the output length suggests
- Google’s published comparisons are against its own previous Flash release and were not independently reproduced here
Mistral Large 4
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $0.70 and $2.10 vs $0.75 and $3.75 per 1M tokens
- Open weights you can run yourself
- Cheaper cached input, $0.07 vs $0.075 per 1M tokens
Best for
- Self-hosted or European data-residency deployments that want a frontier-scale multimodal model
- Coding and security agents where open weights and a low API price both matter
Watch out for
- The API model is still labelled a public preview, and the open weights are a further-trained build of the October 6 preview
- Businesses that sell it as a hosted model service need a separate commercial licence from Mistral
- Running the open weights moves cost to your own GPUs, which the token rates here do not represent
- Epoch AI measured 22.4% on SimpleQA Verified for the open-weight build, low for its size, so check factual recall on your own questions
From benchmark to production
Building on Gemini 3.8 Flash or Mistral Large 4?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes
FAQ
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Mistral Large 4 FAQ
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Mistral Large 4?
Mistral Large 4 is 7% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Gemini 3.8 Flash, $0.70 vs $0.75. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $15 and Mistral Large 4 $11.20 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Mistral Large 4?
Gemini 3.8 Flash charges $0.075 per 1M cached input tokens, 90% below its standard input rate, and Mistral Large 4 $0.07, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $8.93 and Mistral Large 4 $5.53.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Mistral Large 4?
Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on Arena Text, 1496 Elo to 1432 Elo; Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on Arena WebDev, 1583 Elo to 1544 Elo; Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 68.4% to 46.3%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Mistral Large 4?
Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).
How do Gemini 3.8 Flash and Mistral Large 4 differ in features?
Gemini 3.8 Flash takes text, image, audio and video input; Mistral Large 4 takes text and image.
Can I run Gemini 3.8 Flash or Mistral Large 4 myself?
Mistral Large 4 is released as open weights you can run yourself; Gemini 3.8 Flash is available through its provider's API only.
Further reading
More on Gemini 3.8 Flash and Mistral Large 4
Articles on Gemini 3.8 Flash and Mistral Large 4
- Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS: Price, Rankings and the Fine PrintSeptember 25, 2026
Related comparisons
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Gemini 4 Argon
- Claude Haiku 5.5 vs Mistral Large 4
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GPT-6.1 Sol
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Mistral Large 4
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Mistral Large 4
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Mistral Large 4
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- GLM-5.3 vs Mistral Large 4
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GPT-6 Astra
- GPT-6 Luna vs Mistral Large 4
Production evaluation
Choosing between Gemini 3.8 Flash and Mistral Large 4?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty