Gemma 3 vs Mistral Medium 3
Gemma 3 (2025) and Mistral Medium 3 (2025) are compact production models from Google DeepMind and MistralAI. Gemma 3 ships a not-yet-sourced context window, while Mistral Medium 3 ships a 128k-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. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
Mistral Medium 3 is safer overall; choose Gemma 3 when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Gemma 3 | Mistral Medium 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | multimodal apps and tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | Classification and JSON / Tool use | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | — | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $0.08/1M tokens | - |
| Provider routes | 3 tracked | 0 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Gemma 3 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Gemma 3 for Classification and JSON / Tool use.
- Mistral Medium 3 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Mistral Medium 3 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Medium 3 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.
Gemma 3
$52.00
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Mistral Medium 3
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Gemma 3 and Mistral Medium 3; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mistral Medium 3 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Medium 3 and Gemma 3; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-03-12 | 2025-05-01 |
| Context window | — | 128k |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Gemma | Proprietary |
| Openness | Open weights | Proprietary |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-01 | 2025-03 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Gemma 3 | Mistral Medium 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.04/1M tokens | - |
| Output price | $0.08/1M tokens | - |
| Providers | - |
Capabilities
| Capability | Gemma 3 | Mistral Medium 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | Yes |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Mistral Medium 3, multimodal input: Mistral Medium 3, function calling: Mistral Medium 3, tool use: Mistral Medium 3, and code execution: Mistral Medium 3. Both models share structured outputs, 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: Gemma 3 has $0.04/1M input tokens and Mistral Medium 3 has no token price sourced yet. Provider availability is 3 tracked routes versus 0. Treat unknown pricing as an integration gap, then verify the route you will actually call before estimating production spend.
Choose Gemma 3 when provider fit and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Medium 3 when coding workflow support 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. It also helps separate model capability from provider packaging, which can change cost and latency.
FAQ
Is Gemma 3 or Mistral Medium 3 open source?
Gemma 3 is listed under Gemma. Mistral Medium 3 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, Gemma 3 or Mistral Medium 3?
Mistral Medium 3 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, Gemma 3 or Mistral Medium 3?
Mistral Medium 3 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 function calling, Gemma 3 or Mistral Medium 3?
Mistral Medium 3 has the clearer documented function calling signal in this comparison. If function calling is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for tool use, Gemma 3 or Mistral Medium 3?
Mistral Medium 3 has the clearer documented tool use signal in this comparison. If tool use is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Gemma 3 and Mistral Medium 3?
Gemma 3 is available on OpenRouter, Google AI Studio, and GCP Vertex AI. Mistral Medium 3 is available on the tracked providers still being sourced. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-06-15. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.