Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.1
Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 by Anthropic wins on 12 of 17 benchmarks against Mistral Medium 3.1 by Mistral, which leads on 5. This head-to-head comparison covers coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing metrics from our benchmark data.
Category-by-Category Breakdown
General Intelligence: In general intelligence, Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 1380 on Chatbot Arena ELO compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 1250, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 83.0% on MMLU-Pro compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 66.0%.
Coding: In coding, Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 90.0% on HumanEval+ compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 77.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 77.2% on SWE-bench Verified compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 28.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 62.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 34.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 52.1 on AA Coding Index compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 20.5.
Math: In math, Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 87.0% on MATH compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 68.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 95.5% on GSM8K compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 86.0%.
Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 83.4% on GPQA Diamond compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 40.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 45.0% on ARC-AGI compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 18.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 17.5 on AA Agentic Index compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 3.1.
Context: In context, Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores 1.0M on Context Length compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 131K.
Pricing Comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.0/1M input tokens and $15.0/1M output tokens, while Mistral Medium 3.1 costs $0.40/1M input and $2.0/1M output. Mistral Medium 3.1 is the more affordable option for API usage.
Speed Comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.5 generates output at 67 tok/s compared to Mistral Medium 3.1's 110 tok/s, and the time to first token is 1170 ms for Claude Sonnet 4.5 versus 200 ms for Mistral Medium 3.1. Mistral Medium 3.1 delivers faster throughput.
Verdict
For developers prioritizing coding and general intelligence and math, Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the edge. For those who value affordability and speed, Mistral Medium 3.1 is the stronger choice.
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Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.1 — FAQ
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Mistral Medium 3.1?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 wins on more benchmarks overall (12 vs 5). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.
How does Claude Sonnet 4.5 compare to Mistral Medium 3.1 for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is better for coding, scoring 77.2% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 28.0%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.
Is Claude Sonnet 4.5 cheaper than Mistral Medium 3.1?
Yes, Mistral Medium 3.1 is cheaper. Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.0/1M input and $15.0/1M output tokens. Mistral Medium 3.1 costs $0.40/1M input and $2.0/1M output tokens.
Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Mistral Medium 3.1?
Mistral Medium 3.1 is faster, generating output at 110 tok/s compared to 67 tok/s. Faster output speed means shorter wait times for API responses.
What benchmarks does the Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.1 comparison cover?
This comparison covers 17 benchmarks including Chatbot Arena ELO, MMLU-Pro, HumanEval+, MATH, GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench Verified, Output Speed, LiveCodeBench, and more. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.