Comparison · Google and Mistral

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Mistral Large 4

Listed API prices of Gemini 3.8 Flash and Mistral Large 4 turned into the cost of the same three standard tasks, with speed from our own test requests in the United States and what each provider’s API documentation says about features that break on a switch. Output quality and answer length are not compared.

Calculated impact cost per task and per month

For an L2 task (deep analysis over a 50,000-token document, 3 steps), Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.131 and Mistral Large 4 $0.118 at the prices listed in the United States on , so Gemini 3.8 Flash is 11.0 % more than Mistral Large 4, counting visible output only, without cache discounts or hidden reasoning.

TaskGemini 3.8 Flash, per taskMistral Large 4, per taskGemini 3.8 Flash, per monthMistral Large 4, per monthGemini 3.8 Flash vs Mistral Large 4, per task
L1Micro-task (classification or strict JSON extraction)$0.0019per L1 task$0.0015per L1 task$27.38per month$21.46per month+27.6 %
L2Deep analysis over a 50,000-token document$0.131per L2 task$0.118per L2 task$1,905.30per month$1,716.96per month+11.0 %
L3Agentic coding loop, 15 steps$1.02per L3 task$0.940per L3 task$14,897.47per month$13,720.35per month+8.6 %

Calculated Per month: 20 tasks an hour around the clock, 730 hours.

Prices USD per 1M tokens

PriceGemini 3.8 FlashMistral Large 4
Input, per 1M tokens$0.750$0.700
Output, per 1M tokens$3.75$2.10
Price fromProvider's price list · source page PublishedProvider's price list · source page Published
Read · the United States · the United States
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens

What can I use it for? six common tasks, our data checks

Quality on your task: not measured by Measured Lab yet.

TaskGemini 3.8 FlashMistral Large 4
Answer customer messagesFits on price and contextFits on price and context
Pull data from invoices and documents with strict JSON and page imagesFits on price and contextFits on price and context
Summarize documents and meetingsFits on price and contextFits on price and context
Translate contentFits on price and contextFits on price and context
Chat assistant on your websiteFits on price and contextFits on price and context
Write and review code with tool callsFits on price and contextFits on price and context
Tasks it fits6 of 66 of 6

Checks of our data for six common tasks: a published price, a context window and answer length for the task and, where the task needs them, strict JSON output, page images and tool calls; prices, cost a month and terms for each model on its model card. Compare models for your own task in the model picker.

Speed in the US Observed our test requests

In our test requests from the United States, the median time to the first answer token was 6,955 ms for Gemini 3.8 Flash (Direct API · Google) and 634 ms for Mistral Large 4 (Direct API · Mistral).

Model and routeTime to first answer token, medianOutput speed, medianAnswers
Gemini 3.8 FlashDirect API · Google6,955 ms range 1,021 ms–10,510 ms200 tokens/s range 103 tokens/s–365 tokens/s95 answers on 19 dates
Mistral Large 4Direct API · Mistral634 ms range 489 ms–7,389 ms91.3 tokens/s range 12.9 tokens/s–212 tokens/s65 answers on 13 dates
Mistral Large 4OpenRouter → Mistral753 ms range 491 ms–6,018 ms82.2 tokens/s range 7.0 tokens/s–222 tokens/s65 answers on 13 dates

The same short request to every model, sent from a measurement point in the United States; medians of successful answers on at least 2 different dates, latest on . How we measure

What breaks when you switch Published provider documentation

Moving from Google to Mistral, 2 of the 5 features may not carry over, by each provider’s documentation:

  • Streamed tool arguments — Google: yes; Mistral: not stated. An interface that shows arguments as they are written sees nothing until the whole call is ready.
  • Reasoning with tools — Google: yes; Mistral: not stated. Switching reasoning on can rule out some tool settings or output formats, or the other way round.

Moving from Mistral to Google: every feature that Mistral’s documentation lists as supported is also listed as supported by Google.

Feature of the APIGoogleMistral
Strict JSON schemasYesYes
Parallel tool callsYesYes
Streamed tool argumentsYesNot stated
Reasoning with toolsYesNot stated
Cache covers tool definitionsNot statedNot stated

What each provider’s own API documentation says, read ; “not stated” is not the same as “no”. Quotes and sources: what breaks when you switch AI APIs.

Price changes in the last 30 days

  • The listed price of Mistral Large 4 changed on on OpenRouter: input $0.68 → $1.36, output $2.09 → $4.18 per 1M tokens.
  • The listed price of Mistral Large 4 changed on on OpenRouter: input $1.36 → $0.70, output $4.18 → $2.10 per 1M tokens.
  • The listed price of Mistral Large 4 changed on on the provider's price list: input $1.36 → $0.70, output $4.18 → $2.10 per 1M tokens.

All model comparisons · How we check prices