# Mistral Medium API Rate Limits, Pricing & Performance (July 2026)

- Tool: AI API Limits & Performance Matrix
- Last updated: July 2026

## TL;DR

Mistral Medium 3.5 is the current mid-tier model on La Plateforme, superseding Mistral Medium 3. The free Experiment tier provides ~1B tokens/month for evaluation; pay-as-you-go unlocks an estimated ~300 RPM baseline. Pricing has shifted between versions: Medium 3 was $0.40/$2.00 per MTok in/out; Medium 3.5 is cited at ~$1.50/$7.50 on some trackers — verify on mistral.ai/pricing before budgeting.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I increase Mistral Medium rate limits?

Add a billing card to your La Plateforme account to immediately upgrade from the free Experiment tier to the pay-as-you-go baseline (~300 RPM per third-party trackers). Then check Admin Console → Limits for your current org ceilings — some self-serve increases are available without contacting support. For higher custom limits, contact Mistral sales.

### Is Mistral Medium API free?

Yes — Mistral's free Experiment tier requires no billing card and includes approximately 1 billion tokens per month. The RPM ceiling is low (not published publicly; check Admin Console → Limits) and the tier is intended for evaluation only. Paid pay-as-you-go access has no monthly minimum and unlocks the production baseline.

### What is Mistral Medium 3.5 pricing?

Pricing has shifted between versions. Mistral Medium 3 was $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens; Mistral Medium 3.5 is cited at approximately $1.50/$7.50 on some third-party trackers. Both figures need verification on mistral.ai/pricing before use in any budget calculation. A 50% batch discount is available, and context caching discounts repeated-prefix input at a rate not yet published.

### Mistral Medium vs Mistral Large — which should I use?

Use Mistral Medium 3.5 for mid-complexity tasks where you need a balance of quality and cost, especially in EU-regulated environments. Mistral Large 3 offers higher reasoning quality at $2.00/$6.00 per MTok (verify) and is appropriate when output quality is the primary constraint. If Medium 3's $0.40/$2.00 rate applies to 3.5, Medium is roughly 5× cheaper on output.

### What is the difference between Mistral Medium 3 and Mistral Medium 3.5?

Mistral Medium 3.5 is a version upgrade of Mistral Medium 3 within the same product line — not a full model replacement. The slug mistral-medium-3 redirects to this page. Pricing may differ significantly between versions ($0.40/$2.00 for Medium 3 vs ~$1.50/$7.50 for 3.5 on some trackers). Medium 3 may still be callable via a pinned version string — verify on mistral.ai/pricing.

### Does Mistral Medium support EU data residency?

Yes. Mistral routes all La Plateforme traffic through Paris, France by default. This provides EU data residency without additional cost or configuration — unlike AWS or Azure residency options that typically add a regional surcharge. This applies to Mistral Medium 3.5 and all other La Plateforme models.

### How do I fix Mistral Medium 429 errors in production?

Read the Retry-After header in the 429 response and wait that many seconds. As a fallback, use exponential backoff: delay = min(2^attempt, 60) seconds ± 10% jitter. If you're on the free Experiment tier, add billing to access the paid baseline. If you're hitting the paid ~300 RPM limit during bursts, use the Batch API for non-latency-sensitive work or contact Mistral for a limit increase via Admin Console → Limits. RapidDev can help scope retry architecture for your specific throughput requirements — rapidevelopers.com/contact.

### Can I still use the mistral-medium-latest model string?

Technically yes, but it carries version-drift risk. The -latest alias can silently upgrade from Medium 3 to Medium 3.5 mid-deploy, changing pricing and potentially behavior. Pin the explicit string 'mistral-medium-3.5' in production to lock both the rate card and the model behavior. Check mistral.ai/pricing after any intentional version update.

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Source: https://www.rapidevelopers.com/ai-api-limits-performance-matrix/mistral-medium
© RapidDev — https://www.rapidevelopers.com/ai-api-limits-performance-matrix/mistral-medium