Grok 3 vs Codestral
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
Grok 3
xAIxAI's flagship model. Strong general-purpose capability with real-time knowledge access through X platform integration.
| Input | $3.00/M |
| Output | $15.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | General coding, research tasks, current-event-aware applications |
| Benchmark | 70/100 |
Codestral
MistralMistral's dedicated coding model. Open-weight and highly optimized for code generation and completion.
| Input | $0.300/M |
| Output | $0.900/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Code completion, code generation, IDE integration |
| Benchmark | 60/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | Grok 3 | Codestral | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 70 | 60 | Grok 3 leads by 10pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 64 | 54 | Grok 3 leads by 10pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 72 | 64 | Grok 3 leads by 8pts |
| HumanEval | 88 | 82 | Grok 3 leads by 6pts |
| BigCodeBench | 56 | 44 | Grok 3 leads by 12pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | Grok 3 | Codestral | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.55 | $0.04 | Codestral saves $0.52 (93%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $4.05 | $0.29 | Codestral saves $3.76 (93%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $20.25 | $1.43 | Codestral saves $18.82 (93%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.90 | $0.07 | Codestral saves $0.82 (92%) |
Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)
Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.
| Model | Overall Score | Price per Score Point | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grok 3 | 70 | $0.043/pt | Higher cost per point |
| Codestral | 60 | $0.005/pt | Better value |
Codestral delivers the best value at $0.005 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Grok 3
- + Strong reasoning
- + X integration
- - Newer model
- - Limited ecosystem
Codestral
- + Code-specialized
- + Very cheap
- - Narrow focus
Verdict
Codestral is cheaper at $0.300/M, but Grok 3 scores higher on benchmarks (70 vs 60).
Choose Codestral for cost-sensitive projects, Grok 3 when performance matters most.
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