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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) vs Mistral Large 3 vs Nova 2 Lite

Nova 2 Lite comes out ahead, 61 to 52 and 52 on our weighted score, though Mistral Large 3 is 16% cheaper per token.

  1. xAI

    Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)

    Released Mar 9, 2026

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.25 / $2.50
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 3

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $1.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Large 3
  3. Our pick

    Amazon

    Nova 2 Lite

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    61/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.315 / $2.63
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Nova 2 Lite
01 — Verdict

Nova 2 Lite is our pick

Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) (52) and Mistral Large 3 (52). It leads on inputs & features. Mistral Large 3 wins on price. 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 priceMistral Large 3Mistral Large 3 $0.75 · Nova 2 Lite $0.892 · Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) $1.56 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) and Nova 2 LiteGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) 1,000,000 · Nova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Mistral Large 3 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsNova 2 LiteGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning): Text, Images, PDFs · Mistral Large 3: Text, Images · Nova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingMistral Large 3Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)Mistral Large 3Nova 2 Lite
Price50%395350
Inputs & features30%706080
Context window20%603760
Overall100%52/10052/10061/100

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.

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) vs Mistral Large 3 vs Nova 2 Lite specifications side by side
SpecificationGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)xAIMistral Large 3Mistral AINova 2 LiteAmazon
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$1.25$0.50$0.315 (best)
Output$2.50$1.50 (best)$2.63
Cached input$0.20$0.05 (best)—
Blended (3:1)$1.56$0.75 (best)$0.892
Long-context rateOver 200K: $2.50 / $5.00Same rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial xAI APIOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 6 providers
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output30,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoYes
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoYes
ReasoningNoNoYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenProprietary
API model IDgrok-4.20-0309-non-reasoningmistral-large-2512nova-2-lite-v1
API providers1317 (best)8
ReleasedMar 9, 2026Dec 2, 2025Dec 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Nov 2024Oct 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.

  • Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)$17.50
  • Mistral Large 3$8.00
  • Nova 2 Lite$8.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning), Mistral Large 3 or Nova 2 Lite?

Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) (52) and Mistral Large 3 (52). It leads on inputs & features. Mistral Large 3 wins on price. 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, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning), Mistral Large 3 or Nova 2 Lite?

Mistral Large 3 is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Nova 2 Lite costs $0.315 input / $2.63 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers; free on Nova); Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) costs $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for Mistral Large 3 versus $0.892 for Nova 2 Lite (1.2× as much) and $1.56 for Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) (2.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) has not been scored yet, Mistral Large 3 has not been scored yet and Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning), Mistral Large 3 and Nova 2 Lite 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 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) and Nova 2 Lite have the largest context windows (1,000,000 and 1,000,000 tokens), against 262,144 for Mistral Large 3. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) up to 30,000, Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144, Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) accepts text, images and PDFs; Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images; Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Large 3 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) and Nova 2 Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the newest, released Mar 9, 2026. Mistral Large 3 came out Dec 2, 2025; Nova 2 Lite came out Dec 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 3 Nov 2024, Nova 2 Lite Oct 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

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