Codestral vs Qwen Max vs Vision Large
Vision Large comes out ahead, 84 to 29 and 15 on our weighted score.
Mistral AICodestral
29/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.90
- Context256K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Max
15/100- ECI—
- Price$1.60 / $6.40
- Context33K
- Our pick
VisparkVision Large
84/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context1M
Vision Large is our pick
Vision Large is the better all-round choice, scoring 84/100 against Codestral (29) and Qwen Max (15). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 priceCodestralCodestral $0.45 · Qwen Max $2.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Vision Large unpriced
- Longest contextVision LargeVision Large 1,000,000 · Codestral 256,000 · Qwen Max 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsVision LargeCodestral: Text · Qwen Max: Text · Vision Large: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingCodestralPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Codestral | Qwen Max | Vision Large |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 25 | 25 | 100 |
| Context window | 40% | 36 | 0 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 29/100 | 15/100 | 84/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. 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 | Qwen MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Vision LargeVispark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 (best) | $1.60 | — |
| Output | $0.90 (best) | $6.40 | — |
| Cached input | $0.03 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.45 (best) | $2.80 | — |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | — |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Official Alibaba API | — |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 32,768 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | codestral-latest | qwen-max | — |
| API providers | 3 | 6 (best) | — |
| Released | May 29, 2024 | Apr 3, 2024 | May 15, 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
- Qwen Max$28.80
- Vision Large—
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Codestral, Qwen Max or Vision Large?
Vision Large is the better all-round choice, scoring 84/100 against Codestral (29) and Qwen Max (15). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Codestral, Qwen Max or Vision Large?
Codestral is cheaper at $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Qwen Max costs $1.60 input / $6.40 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 $2.80 for Qwen Max (6.2× as much). Vision Large has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Codestral has not been scored yet, Qwen Max has not been scored yet and Vision Large has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Codestral, Qwen Max and Vision Large 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?
Vision Large has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 256,000 for Codestral and 32,768 for Qwen Max. Maximum output per response: Codestral up to 4,096, Qwen Max up to 8,192, Vision Large up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Codestral accepts text; Qwen Max accepts text; Vision Large accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Vision Large handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Codestral publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen Max and Vision Large is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Codestral is the newest, released May 29, 2024. Vision Large came out May 15, 2024; Qwen Max came out Apr 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Codestral Oct 2024, Qwen Max 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 Oct 4, 2026.
