ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Large 2.1 vs GPT-4o

GPT-4o comes out ahead, 43 to 38 on our weighted score, though Mistral Large 2.1 is 31% cheaper per token.

  1. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 2.1

    Released Nov 18, 2024

    38/100
    • ECI128.5
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Large 2.1
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4o

    Released May 13, 2024

    43/100
    • ECI129.0
    • Price$2.50 / $10.00
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-4o is our pick

GPT-4o is the better all-round choice, scoring 43/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on inputs & features. Mistral Large 2.1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-4oCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4o 129.0 · Mistral Large 2.1 128.5
  • Lowest priceMistral Large 2.1Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 · GPT-4o $4.38 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMistral Large 2.1Mistral Large 2.1 131,072 · GPT-4o 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4oMistral Large 2.1: Text · GPT-4o: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingMistral Large 2.1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Large 2.1GPT-4o
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5152
Price25%2719
Inputs & features15%2570
Context window10%2424
Overall100%38/10043/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Mistral Large 2.1 vs GPT-4o specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Large 2.1Mistral AIGPT-4oOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)128.5129.0 (best)
ECI rank#130 of 148#129 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.3% (best)48.9%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8% (best)6.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00 (best)$2.50
Output$6.00 (best)$10.00
Cached input—$1.25
Blended (3:1)$3.00 (best)$4.38
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDmistral-large-2411gpt-4o
API providers219 (best)
ReleasedNov 18, 2024May 13, 2024
Knowledge cutoffNov 2024Sep 2023
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.

  • Mistral Large 2.1$32.00
  • GPT-4o$45.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Large 2.1 or GPT-4o?

GPT-4o is the better all-round choice, scoring 43/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on inputs & features. Mistral Large 2.1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Mistral Large 2.1 or GPT-4o?

Mistral Large 2.1 is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). GPT-4o costs $2.50 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.00 per million tokens for Mistral Large 2.1 versus $4.38 for GPT-4o (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-4o scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4o 129.0 (#129 of 148) and Mistral Large 2.1 128.5 (#130 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (124.2–131.5 vs 123.8–130.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Large 2.1 51.3%, GPT-4o 48.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Large 2.1 7.8%, GPT-4o 6.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Large 2.1 and GPT-4o yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4o leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Mistral Large 2.1 has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-4o. Maximum output per response: Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384, GPT-4o up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Large 2.1 accepts text; GPT-4o accepts text, images and PDFs. GPT-4o handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Large 2.1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4o is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Large 2.1 is the newest, released Nov 18, 2024. GPT-4o came out May 13, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 2.1 Nov 2024, GPT-4o Sep 2023.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons