Codestral vs Codestral 25.08 vs Qwen Plus
Qwen Plus comes out ahead, 54 to 49 and 47 on our weighted score, though Codestral is 25% cheaper per token.
Mistral AICodestral
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.90
- Context256K
- Mistral AI
Codestral 25.08
47/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.90
- Context128K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Plus
54/100- ECI—
- Price$0.40 / $1.20
- Context1M
Qwen Plus is our pick
Qwen Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 54/100 against Codestral (49) and Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads 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 priceCodestral and Codestral 25.08Codestral $0.45 · Codestral 25.08 $0.45 · Qwen Plus $0.60 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen PlusQwen Plus 1,000,000 · Codestral 256,000 · Codestral 25.08 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsCodestral: Text · Codestral 25.08: Text · Qwen Plus: Text
- Self-hostingCodestralPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Codestral | Codestral 25.08 | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 64 | 64 | 58 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 35 | 45 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 24 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 49/100 | 47/100 | 54/100 |
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 | CodestralMistral AI | Codestral 25.08Mistral AI | Qwen PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 (best) | $0.30 (best) | $0.40 |
| Output | $0.90 (best) | $0.90 (best) | $1.20 |
| Cached input | $0.03 (best) | $0.03 (best) | $0.08 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.45 (best) | $0.45 (best) | $0.60 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 256K: $1.20 / $3.60 |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Official Mistral API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 32,768 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | codestral-latest | codestral-2508 | qwen-plus |
| API providers | 4 | 11 (best) | 10 |
| Released | May 29, 2024 | Jul 30, 2025 | Jan 25, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2024 | — | 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$4.80
- Codestral 25.08$4.80
- Qwen Plus$6.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Codestral, Codestral 25.08 or Qwen Plus?
Qwen Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 54/100 against Codestral (49) and Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads 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, Codestral 25.08 or Qwen Plus?
Codestral is cheaper at $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Codestral 25.08 costs $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Qwen Plus costs $0.40 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.45 per million tokens for Codestral versus $0.45 for Codestral 25.08 (1× as much) and $0.60 for Qwen Plus (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Codestral has not been scored yet, Codestral 25.08 has not been scored yet and Qwen Plus has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Codestral, Codestral 25.08 and Qwen Plus 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?
Qwen Plus has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 256,000 for Codestral and 128,000 for Codestral 25.08. Maximum output per response: Codestral up to 4,096, Codestral 25.08 up to 8,192, Qwen Plus up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Codestral accepts text; Codestral 25.08 accepts text; Qwen Plus accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Codestral publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Codestral 25.08 and Qwen Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Codestral 25.08 is the newest, released Jul 30, 2025. Codestral came out May 29, 2024; Qwen Plus came out Jan 25, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Codestral Oct 2024, Qwen Plus 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.
