Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | Grok Build 0.1 0616 | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $1 | $0.4 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $2 | $2 |
Verdict. Grok Build 0.1 0616 wins the overall benchmark matchup 2–0 across 2 overlapping categories, but raw benchmark score is only one input to the decision.
Pricing. Both models sit in the budget bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, Mistral Medium 3.1 is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). Mistral Medium 3.1 makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. Grok Build 0.1 0616 is strongest on Coding Index (51.5), Intelligence Index (40.7). Mistral Medium 3.1 leads on Coding Index (20.5), Intelligence Index (14.7).
Speed. On throughput, Mistral Medium 3.1 generates tokens at 106 tok/s versus 55 tok/s — about 48% faster. On time-to-first-token, Grok Build 0.1 0616 responds in 510ms vs 1470ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.
Provider. SpaceXAI and Mistral sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: SpaceXAI tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while Mistral often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): Grok Build 0.1 0616 costs $60.00 ($720/year); Mistral Medium 3.1 costs $42.00 ($504/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): Grok Build 0.1 0616 ≈ $9.00/run, Mistral Medium 3.1 ≈ $6.00/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): Grok Build 0.1 0616 ≈ $400/run, Mistral Medium 3.1 ≈ $280/run. Mistral Medium 3.1 becomes more attractive at higher volume — the absolute per-token pricing difference compounds when you ship at scale.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Head-to-head deltas
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Mistral Medium 3.1 is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $0.80/M tokens vs $1.25/M for Grok Build 0.1 0616.
Grok Build 0.1 0616 wins 2 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Mistral Medium 3.1. See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
Mistral Medium 3.1 generates tokens faster at 106 tok/s vs 55 tok/s. Grok Build 0.1 0616 also has lower time-to-first-token (0.51s vs 1.47s).
Choose based on your priorities: Mistral Medium 3.1 for lower cost, Grok Build 0.1 0616 for stronger benchmark performance, and Mistral Medium 3.1 for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.