Claude Opus 4.8 vs Mistral Large 3 — Price, Context, and Capability Compared
Verdict
Claude Opus 4.8 costs 3.3× more per blended million tokens than Mistral Large 3. Claude Opus 4.8 has the larger context window (500,000 tokens). Default to Mistral Large 3 unless you specifically need Claude Opus 4.8's edge. Only Claude Opus 4.8 exposes an extended-thinking mode.
Spec comparison
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Mistral Large 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (input) | $5.00/M | $2.00/M ✓ |
| Price (output) | $25.00/M | $6.00/M ✓ |
| Blended price | $10.00/M | $3.00/M ✓ |
| Context window | 500,000 tokens ✓ | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens ✓ | 32,768 tokens |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision |
| Reasoning mode | Yes | No |
| Released | 2026-04 | 2026-01 |
| Speed | 58 t/s | 61 t/s ✓ |
Cost at scale (3:1 blended)
| Tokens / month | Claude Opus 4.8 | Mistral Large 3 | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 | $10.00 | $3.00 | $7.00 (3.3×) |
| 10,000,000 | $100.00 | $30.00 | $70.00 (3.3×) |
| 100,000,000 | $1000.00 | $300.00 | $700.00 (3.3×) |
Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if…
- ✓Elite coding and multi-step reasoning
- ✓Strong instruction following on ambiguous prompts
- ✓Extended-thinking mode
- ✓Complex, multi-step tasks where Fable 5’s premium isn’t justified.
Choose Mistral Large 3 if…
- ✓Mistral’s flagship reasoning and coding model
- ✓Low price relative to other frontier models
- ✓EU-hosted option available
- ✓Strong reasoning and coding at a lower cost than the big-lab flagships.
Run this exact matchup right now
Send the same prompt to Claude Opus 4.8 and Mistral Large 3 side by side and see the outputs yourself.
Try Claude Opus 4.8 vs Mistral Large 3 FreeFAQ
Is Claude Opus 4.8 cheaper than Mistral Large 3?
Mistral Large 3 is cheaper, at $3.00 per million blended tokens vs $10.00 for Claude Opus 4.8.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Opus 4.8 or Mistral Large 3?
Claude Opus 4.8 has the larger context window: 500,000 tokens vs 131,072.
Can Claude Opus 4.8 replace Mistral Large 3 for coding?
Both are viable for coding. Elite coding and multi-step reasoning (Claude Opus 4.8) vs Mistral’s flagship reasoning and coding model (Mistral Large 3) — pick based on which strength matters more for your workload.
Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.8 or Mistral Large 3?
Mistral Large 3 is faster: 61 t/s vs 58 t/s, measured on our speed benchmarks.
Related
Pricing verified 2026-06-07. Specs verified 2026-08-08.
