ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Mistral Large 2.1 vs Mistral Large 4

Mistral Large 4 comes out ahead, 67 to 38 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 2.1

    Released Nov 18, 2024

    38/100
    • ECI128.6
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context131K
  2. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 4

    Released Oct 6, 2026NewBeta

    67/100
    • ECI150.6
    • Price$0.70 / $2.10
    • Context1.05M
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Mistral Large 4 is our pick

Mistral Large 4 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Large 4Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Large 4 150.6 · Mistral Large 2.1 128.6
  • Lowest priceMistral Large 4Mistral Large 4 $1.05 · Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMistral Large 4Mistral Large 4 1,048,576 · Mistral Large 2.1 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Large 4Mistral Large 2.1: Text · Mistral Large 4: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMistral Large 2.1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Large 2.1Mistral Large 4
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5077
Price25%2647
Inputs & features15%2570
Context window10%2561
Overall100%38/10067/100
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 Mistral Large 4 specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Large 2.1Mistral AIMistral Large 4Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)128.6150.6 (best)
ECI rank#142 of 165#57 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.3%88.1% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—58.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%98.3% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—20.0%
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.70 (best)
Output$6.00$2.10 (best)
Cached input—$0.07
Blended (3:1)$3.00$1.05 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—mistral-large-4
API providers215 (best)
ReleasedNov 18, 2024Oct 6, 2026
Knowledge cutoffNov 2024—
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
  • Mistral Large 4$11.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Large 2.1 or Mistral Large 4?

Mistral Large 4 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Mistral Large 2.1 or Mistral Large 4?

Mistral Large 4 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.10 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Mistral Large 2.1 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.05 per million tokens for Mistral Large 4 versus $3.00 for Mistral Large 2.1 (2.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Large 4 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Large 4 150.6 (#57 of 165) and Mistral Large 2.1 128.6 (#142 of 165). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (147.4–153.5 vs 124.3–130.7), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Large 4 88.1%, Mistral Large 2.1 51.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Large 4 98.3%, Mistral Large 2.1 7.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Large 2.1 and Mistral Large 4 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Large 4 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 4 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Mistral Large 2.1. Maximum output per response: Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384, Mistral Large 4 up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Large 2.1 accepts text; Mistral Large 4 accepts text and images. Mistral Large 4 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Mistral Large 4 is the newest, released Oct 6, 2026. Mistral Large 2.1 came out Nov 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 2.1 Nov 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.