Mistral AI’s open-source Medium 3.5 is getting a mixed reception. Decrypt calls it “the rare Western entry in the open-source top tier.” That is the good part.
The problem is cost. Decrypt says Medium 3.5 “costs multiples more than Chinese rivals that beat it on benchmarks.” In other words, the model may look good on capability, but its price is not matching the performance tradeoff competitors offer.
The source text does not provide pricing figures or specific benchmark names. So the critique stays at the level of relative comparison: Decrypt’s framing is that you pay much more for a result that can be surpassed on tests by cheaper rivals.