Mistral Medium 3 vs Qwen-Plus
Updated October 21, 2026. 24 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Mistral Medium 3 has the edge where the benchmark that matters is DTBench, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 24
- Mistral Medium 3 only
- 33
- Qwen-Plus only
- 4
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Mistral Medium 3 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 9.0.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Mistral Medium 3 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1079.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen-Plus
Qwen-Plus takes 1M tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen-Plus
Mistral Medium 3 $0.0014, Qwen-Plus $0.0006 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Mistral Medium 3 not benchmarked, Qwen-Plus not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- General, 8.5 points apart on average over 13 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- DTBench: Mistral Medium 3 62.3% against Qwen-Plus 81.1%, 18.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Mistral Medium 3 $2.00 against Qwen-Plus $0.78 per million output tokens, 2.6x apart.
- Context window
- Mistral Medium 3 takes 131K tokens, Qwen-Plus 1M.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Mistral Medium 3 | Bars | Qwen-Plus | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 3 | 0 | ||
| Math | 2 | 0 | ||
| Knowledge | 4 | 0 | ||
| General | 12 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 23 | 1 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index20
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 40.0% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 3.8% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1385 | 1328 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1385 | 1343 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 9.0 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 134.0 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 24.3% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 38 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 57.8% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.1% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 48.1% | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1364 | 1317 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1342 | 1328 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1374 | 1333 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1155 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1165 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 30.3 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 30.3% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 17.8% | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| MATH level 5 | Not measured | 65.3% | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1353 | 1326 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1354 | 1332 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 76.0% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1381 | 1352 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1381 | 1350 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1384 | 1349 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1352 | 1303 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1079 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1024 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1018 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1034 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1083 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1069 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index121
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 39.3% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 31.3% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| DTBench | 62.3% | 81.1% | Qwen-Plus |
| LMCA | Not measured | 24.0% | Only Qwen-Plus measured |
| LMArena Text | 1370 | 1326 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1338 | 1303 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1343 | 1292 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Vision | 1157 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1385 | 1339 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1353 | 1310 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1374 | 1347 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: German | 1377 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1316 | 1251 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1304 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1368 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1364 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1359 | 1323 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1371 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1384 | 1336 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1360 | 1324 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1352 | 1296 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1335 | 1270 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1172 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1161 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1154 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1145 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | 1094 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | 1141 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1146 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen-Plus costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen-Plus costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen-Plus costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Mistral Medium 3 | Qwen-Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Mistral AI | Qwen |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | May 7, 2025 | February 1, 2025 |
| Context window | 131K | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.40 | $0.26 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.00 | $0.78 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Mistral Medium 3 better than Qwen-Plus for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Mistral Medium 3 has the edge where the benchmark that matters is DTBench, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Medium 3 or Qwen-Plus?
Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 per million input tokens and $2.00 per million output tokens; Qwen-Plus costs $0.26 and $0.78. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Medium 3 or Qwen-Plus?
Qwen-Plus, with 1M tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks is the Mistral Medium 3 vs Qwen-Plus comparison based on?
24 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Mistral Medium 3's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Qwen-Plus's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.