Codestral 25.08 vs solar-mini
solar-mini comes out ahead, 50 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
Upstagesolar-mini
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
solar-mini is our pick
solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on price. Codestral 25.08 wins on 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 pricesolar-minisolar-mini $0.15 · Codestral 25.08 $0.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextCodestral 25.08Codestral 25.08 128,000 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsCodestral 25.08: Text · solar-mini: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Codestral 25.08 | solar-mini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 64 | 85 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 47/100 | 50/100 |
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 | solar-miniUpstage |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $0.90 | $0.15 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.03 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.45 | $0.15 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Official Upstage API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | codestral-2508 | solar-mini |
| API providers | 11 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jul 30, 2025 | Jun 12, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Sep 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
- solar-mini$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Codestral 25.08 or solar-mini?
solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on price. Codestral 25.08 wins on 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 solar-mini?
solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage 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 $0.15 per million tokens for solar-mini versus $0.45 for Codestral 25.08 (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 solar-mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Codestral 25.08 and solar-mini 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?
Codestral 25.08 has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: Codestral 25.08 up to 8,192, solar-mini up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Codestral 25.08 accepts text; solar-mini accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
No. Codestral 25.08 and solar-mini are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Codestral 25.08 is the newest, released Jul 30, 2025. solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: solar-mini Sep 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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