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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Large 2.1 vs Mixtral 8x7B

Too close to call on our weighted score (Mistral Large 2.1 38, Mixtral 8x7B 37). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  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. Mistral AI

    Mixtral 8x7B

    Released Dec 11, 2023

    37/100
    • ECI118.5
    • Price$0.70 / $0.70
    • Context32K
    Full specs Remove Mixtral 8x7B

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Mistral Large 2.1 38/100, Mixtral 8x7B 37/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Large 2.1 for raw capability and Mixtral 8x7B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Large 2.1Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Large 2.1 128.5 · Mixtral 8x7B 118.5
  • Lowest priceMixtral 8x7BMixtral 8x7B $0.70 · Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMistral Large 2.1Mistral Large 2.1 131,072 · Mixtral 8x7B 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Large 2.1: Text · Mixtral 8x7B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Large 2.1Mixtral 8x7B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5138
Price25%2757
Inputs & features15%2525
Context window10%240
Overall100%38/10037/100
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 Mixtral 8x7B specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Large 2.1Mistral AIMixtral 8x7BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)128.5 (best)118.5
ECI rank#130 of 148 (best)#142 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.3% (best)30.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.70 (best)
Output$6.00$0.70 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.00$0.70 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)32,000 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens32,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDmistral-large-2411open-mixtral-8x7b
API providers2 (best)1
ReleasedNov 18, 2024Dec 11, 2023
Knowledge cutoffNov 2024Jan 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
  • Mixtral 8x7B$8.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Large 2.1 or Mixtral 8x7B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Mistral Large 2.1 38/100, Mixtral 8x7B 37/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Large 2.1 for raw capability and Mixtral 8x7B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Mistral Large 2.1 or Mixtral 8x7B?

Mixtral 8x7B is cheaper at $0.70 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Mistral Large 2.1 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.70 per million tokens for Mixtral 8x7B versus $3.00 for Mistral Large 2.1 (4.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Large 2.1 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Large 2.1 128.5 (#130 of 148) and Mixtral 8x7B 118.5 (#142 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (123.8–130.8 vs 111.3–121.3), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Large 2.1 51.3%, Mixtral 8x7B 30.6%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Large 2.1 and Mixtral 8x7B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Large 2.1 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 32,000 for Mixtral 8x7B. Maximum output per response: Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384, Mixtral 8x7B up to 32,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Large 2.1 accepts text; Mixtral 8x7B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Large 2.1 is the newest, released Nov 18, 2024. Mixtral 8x7B came out Dec 11, 2023. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 2.1 Nov 2024, Mixtral 8x7B Jan 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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