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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Large 2.1 vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct

Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct comes out ahead, 51 to 28 and 26 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 2.1

    Released Nov 18, 2024

    26/100
    • ECI128.5
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context131K
  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

    Released Sep 19, 2024

    28/100
    • ECI129.0
    • Price$1.40 / $5.60
    • Context131K
  3. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct

    Released Sep 2024

    51/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.35 / $1.05
    • Context131K
01 — Verdict

Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct is our pick

Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (28) and Mistral Large 2.1 (26). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 priceQwen2.5-VL 7B InstructQwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct $0.525 · Qwen2.5 72B Instruct $2.45 · Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameMistral Large 2.1 131,072 · Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 131,072 · Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen2.5-VL 7B InstructMistral Large 2.1: Text · Qwen2.5 72B Instruct: Text · Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Large 2.1Qwen2.5 72B InstructQwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct
Price50%273163
Inputs & features30%252550
Context window20%242424
Overall100%26/10028/10051/100

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.

Mistral Large 2.1 vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Large 2.1Mistral AIQwen2.5 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen2.5-VL 7B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)128.5129.0 (best)—
ECI rank#130 of 148#128 of 148 (best)—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.3% (best)49.2%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%8.1% (best)—
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$1.40$0.35 (best)
Output$6.00$5.60$1.05 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$3.00$2.45$0.525 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens (best)8,192 tokens8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model IDmistral-large-2411qwen2-5-72b-instructqwen2-5-vl-7b-instruct
API providers2 (best)11
ReleasedNov 18, 2024Sep 19, 2024Sep 2024
Knowledge cutoffNov 2024Apr 2024Apr 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
  • Qwen2.5 72B Instruct$25.20
  • Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct$5.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Large 2.1, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct?

Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (28) and Mistral Large 2.1 (26). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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, Mistral Large 2.1, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct?

Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct is cheaper at $0.35 input / $1.05 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs $1.40 input / $5.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $0.525 per million tokens for Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct versus $2.45 for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (4.7× as much) and $3.00 for Mistral Large 2.1 (5.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Mistral Large 2.1 has an ECI of 128.5, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct has an ECI of 129.0 and Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Large 2.1, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct 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?

Mistral Large 2.1, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct up to 8,192, Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Large 2.1 accepts text; Qwen2.5 72B Instruct accepts text; Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct accepts text and images. Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Mistral Large 2.1 is the newest, released Nov 18, 2024. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct came out Sep 19, 2024; Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct came out Sep 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 2.1 Nov 2024, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct Apr 2024, Qwen2.5-VL 7B Instruct 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.