ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Codestral 25.08 vs Grok Code Fast 1 vs GLM-4.5-Air

Too close to call on our weighted score (Grok Code Fast 1 48, GLM-4.5-Air 48, Codestral 25.08 47). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Mistral AI

    Codestral 25.08

    Released Jul 30, 2025

    47/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $0.90
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Codestral 25.08

  2. xAI

    Grok Code Fast 1

    Released Sep 2, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.50
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Grok Code Fast 1

  3. Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-4.5-Air

    Released Jul 28, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove GLM-4.5-Air
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Grok Code Fast 1 48/100, GLM-4.5-Air 48/100, Codestral 25.08 47/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GLM-4.5-Air on price and Grok Code Fast 1 for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceGLM-4.5-AirGLM-4.5-Air $0.425 · Codestral 25.08 $0.45 · Grok Code Fast 1 $0.525 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGrok Code Fast 1Grok Code Fast 1 256,000 · GLM-4.5-Air 131,072 · Codestral 25.08 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsCodestral 25.08: Text · Grok Code Fast 1: Text · GLM-4.5-Air: Text
  • Self-hostingGLM-4.5-AirPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightCodestral 25.08Grok Code Fast 1GLM-4.5-Air
Price50%646065
Inputs & features30%353535
Context window20%243625
Overall100%47/10048/10048/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Codestral 25.08 vs Grok Code Fast 1 vs GLM-4.5-Air specifications side by side
SpecificationCodestral 25.08Mistral AIGrok Code Fast 1xAIGLM-4.5-AirZ.ai (Zhipu)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.20 (best)$0.20 (best)
Output$0.90 (best)$1.50$1.10
Cached input$0.03—$0.03
Blended (3:1)$0.45$0.525$0.425 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 5 providersOfficial Z.AI API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens256,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens10,000 tokens98,304 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpen
API model IDcodestral-2508—glm-4.5-air
API providers11719 (best)
ReleasedJul 30, 2025Sep 2, 2025Jul 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——Apr 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Codestral 25.08$4.80
  • Grok Code Fast 1$5.00
  • GLM-4.5-Air$4.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Codestral 25.08, Grok Code Fast 1 or GLM-4.5-Air?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Grok Code Fast 1 48/100, GLM-4.5-Air 48/100, Codestral 25.08 47/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GLM-4.5-Air on price and Grok Code Fast 1 for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Codestral 25.08, Grok Code Fast 1 or GLM-4.5-Air?

GLM-4.5-Air is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). Codestral 25.08 costs $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Grok Code Fast 1 costs $0.20 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.425 per million tokens for GLM-4.5-Air versus $0.45 for Codestral 25.08 (1.1× as much) and $0.525 for Grok Code Fast 1 (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Codestral 25.08 has not been scored yet, Grok Code Fast 1 has not been scored yet and GLM-4.5-Air has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Codestral 25.08, Grok Code Fast 1 and GLM-4.5-Air yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Grok Code Fast 1 has the largest context window at 256,000 tokens, against 131,072 for GLM-4.5-Air and 128,000 for Codestral 25.08. Maximum output per response: Codestral 25.08 up to 8,192, Grok Code Fast 1 up to 10,000, GLM-4.5-Air up to 98,304 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Codestral 25.08 accepts text; Grok Code Fast 1 accepts text; GLM-4.5-Air accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

GLM-4.5-Air publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Codestral 25.08 and Grok Code Fast 1 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Grok Code Fast 1 is the newest, released Sep 2, 2025. Codestral 25.08 came out Jul 30, 2025; GLM-4.5-Air came out Jul 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GLM-4.5-Air Apr 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons