Codestral 25.08 vs Qwen Flash
Qwen Flash comes out ahead, 69 to 47 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Mistral AICodestral 25.08
47/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.90
- Context128K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Flash
69/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.40
- Context1M
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Qwen Flash is our pick
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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 priceQwen FlashQwen Flash $0.138 · Codestral 25.08 $0.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen FlashQwen Flash 1,000,000 · Codestral 25.08 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsCodestral 25.08: Text · Qwen Flash: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Codestral 25.08 | Qwen Flash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 64 | 87 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 45 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 47/100 | 69/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Codestral 25.08Mistral AI | Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.05 (best) |
| Output | $0.90 | $0.40 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.03 | $0.01 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.45 | $0.138 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 256K: $0.25 / $2.00 |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 32,768 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | codestral-2508 | qwen-flash |
| API providers | 11 (best) | 6 |
| Released | Jul 30, 2025 | Jul 28, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2024 |
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
- Qwen Flash$1.30
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Codestral 25.08 or Qwen Flash?
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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 or Qwen Flash?
Qwen Flash is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Codestral 25.08 costs $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.138 per million tokens for Qwen Flash versus $0.45 for Codestral 25.08 (3.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Codestral 25.08 has not been scored yet and Qwen Flash has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Codestral 25.08 and Qwen Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 128,000 for Codestral 25.08. Maximum output per response: Codestral 25.08 up to 8,192, Qwen Flash up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Codestral 25.08 accepts text; Qwen Flash accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
No. Codestral 25.08 and Qwen Flash are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Codestral 25.08 is the newest, released Jul 30, 2025. Qwen Flash came out Jul 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen Flash Apr 2024.
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.
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