Aquila 2 34B vs Mistral Medium 3.5
Aquila 2 34B (2023) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (2026) are frontier reasoning models from Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI) and MistralAI. Aquila 2 34B ships a 2k-token context window, while Mistral Medium 3.5 ships a 256k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Mistral Medium 3.5 fits 128x more tokens; pick it for long-context work and Aquila 2 34B for tighter calls.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Aquila 2 34B | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | general production evaluation | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | General | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | 2k | 256k |
| Cheapest output | - | $7.50/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 0 tracked | 3 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Use Aquila 2 34B when your own prompt tests beat the comparison signals; the local data does not show a decisive standalone advantage yet.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Medium 3.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Aquila 2 34B
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Mistral Medium 3.5
$3,075
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Mistral AI Studio
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Aquila 2 34B and Mistral Medium 3.5; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Medium 3.5 and Aquila 2 34B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2023-11-02 | 2026-04-29 |
| Context window | 2k | 256k |
| Parameters | 34B | 128B |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Openness | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Commercial use | Commercial use with conditions | Commercial use with conditions |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Aquila 2 34B | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | - | $1.50/1M tokens |
| Output price | - | $7.50/1M tokens |
| Providers | - |
Capabilities
| Capability | Aquila 2 34B | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | No | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Mistral Medium 3.5, multimodal input: Mistral Medium 3.5, reasoning mode: Mistral Medium 3.5, function calling: Mistral Medium 3.5, tool use: Mistral Medium 3.5, and structured outputs: Mistral Medium 3.5. Both models share the core language-model surface, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
Pricing coverage is uneven: Aquila 2 34B has no token price sourced yet and Mistral Medium 3.5 has $1.50/1M input tokens. Provider availability is 0 tracked routes versus 3. Treat unknown pricing as an integration gap, then verify the route you will actually call before estimating production spend.
Choose Aquila 2 34B when provider fit are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 when reasoning depth, larger context windows, and broader provider choice are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Aquila 2 34B or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 supports 256k tokens, while Aquila 2 34B supports 2k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Is Aquila 2 34B or Mistral Medium 3.5 open source?
Aquila 2 34B is listed under Proprietary. Mistral Medium 3.5 is listed under Proprietary. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Aquila 2 34B or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for multimodal input, Aquila 2 34B or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 has the clearer documented multimodal input signal in this comparison. If multimodal input is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for reasoning mode, Aquila 2 34B or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 has the clearer documented reasoning mode signal in this comparison. If reasoning mode is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Aquila 2 34B and Mistral Medium 3.5?
Aquila 2 34B is available on the tracked providers still being sourced. Mistral Medium 3.5 is available on Mistral AI Studio, OpenRouter, and Vercel AI Gateway. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-05-22. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.