Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Mistral Medium 3.5 128B
Wins 6 of 7 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Facts · Images and charts · Long documents
Wins 1 of 7 areas
Following instructions
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the stronger all-rounder.Mistral Medium 3.5 128B is cheaper and better at following instructions.
Scores updated · 24 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the seven areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- CodingWriting and fixing software50Claude Sonnet 4.65 of 5 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own40Claude Sonnet 4.64 of 4 tests
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking30Claude Sonnet 4.63 of 3 tests
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up20Claude Sonnet 4.62 of 2 tests
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video20Claude Sonnet 4.62 of 2 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Sonnet 4.61 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01Mistral Medium 3.5 128B1 of 1 test
Long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Mistral Medium 3.5 128B costs 50% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Sonnet 4.6 pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+33.2points ahead
- Finds hard-to-locate facts by browsing the webBrowseComp+26.1points ahead
- Real work tasks from 44 professionsGDPVal+23.5points ahead
Where Mistral Medium 3.5 128B pulls ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+12.2points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 24 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Sonnet 4.6
- LMArena · WebDevClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 257 rating points15221265+257 rating
- Terminal-Bench 2.1Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 20.671.250.6+20.6
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 19.75333.3+19.7
- SciCodeClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 9.950.140.2+9.9
- SWE-bench VerifiedClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 279.677.6+2
AgentsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- BrowseCompClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 26.174.748.6+26.1
- GDPValClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 23.536.713.2+23.5
- τ-Bench V3 · BankingClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 19.334.415.1+19.3
- Terminal-Bench 4.0Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 330+3
ReasoningClaude Sonnet 4.6
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 19.833.613.8+19.8
- GPQA DiamondClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 12.787.574.8+12.7
- CritPtClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 3.13.10+3.1
FactsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 33.251.618.4+33.2
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 16.240.924.7+16.2
Images and chartsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- MMMU-ProClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 8.473.364.9+8.4
- LMArena · VisionClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 61 rating points12831222+61 rating
Long documentsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- AA-LCRClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 10.78069.3+10.7
Following instructionsMistral Medium 3.5 128B
- IFBenchMistral Medium 3.5 128B by 12.256.668.8+12.2
Other results6 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 4912.2-36.8+49
- AA Agentic IndexClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 23.733.19.4+23.7
- Finance Agent v2Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 18.95132.1+18.9
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Mistral Medium 3.5 128B by 18.575.794.2+18.5
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 16.16346.9+16.1
- AA IntelligenceClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 15.930.114.2+15.9
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Mistral Medium 3.5 128B?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins six of the seven areas where both have results: coding, agents, reasoning, facts, images and charts and long documents. Mistral Medium 3.5 128B wins following instructions, and costs 50% less.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4.6. It wins 5 of the 5 coding tests both models report; Mistral Medium 3.5 128B wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; Mistral Medium 3.5 128B costs $1.50 and $7.50. That makes Mistral Medium 3.5 128B about 50% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 24 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 18 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 6 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.