Mistral Large 2 vs Codestral
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
Mistral Large 2
MistralMistral's flagship model. Strong multilingual and coding capability.
| Input | $2.00/M |
| Output | $6.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Enterprise coding, multilingual tasks |
| Benchmark | 65/100 |
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 | Mistral Large 2 | Codestral | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65 | 60 | Mistral Large 2 leads by 5pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 58 | 54 | Mistral Large 2 leads by 4pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 66 | 64 | Mistral Large 2 leads by 2pts |
| HumanEval | 84 | 82 | Mistral Large 2 leads by 2pts |
| BigCodeBench | 52 | 44 | Mistral Large 2 leads by 8pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | Mistral Large 2 | Codestral | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.25 | $0.04 | Codestral saves $0.21 (85%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $1.90 | $0.29 | Codestral saves $1.62 (85%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $9.50 | $1.43 | Codestral saves $8.07 (85%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.50 | $0.07 | Codestral saves $0.42 (85%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mistral Large 2 | 65 | $0.031/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
Mistral Large 2
- + European data residency
- + Good value
- - Smaller ecosystem
Codestral
- + Code-specialized
- + Very cheap
- - Narrow focus
Verdict
Codestral is cheaper at $0.300/M, but Mistral Large 2 scores higher on benchmarks (65 vs 60).
Choose Codestral for cost-sensitive projects, Mistral Large 2 when performance matters most.
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