ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Large 2.1 vs Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2

Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 comes out ahead, 44 to 38 on our weighted score, though Mistral Large 2.1 is 2× 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

    Anthropic

    Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2

    Released Oct 22, 2024

    44/100
    • ECI133.5
    • Price$3.00 / $15.00
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 is our pick

Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 44/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Mistral Large 2.1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityClaude Sonnet 3.5 v2Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 133.5 · Mistral Large 2.1 128.5
  • Lowest priceMistral Large 2.1Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextClaude Sonnet 3.5 v2Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 200,000 · Mistral Large 2.1 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsClaude Sonnet 3.5 v2Mistral Large 2.1: Text · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingMistral Large 2.1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Large 2.1Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5157
Price25%2713
Inputs & features15%2560
Context window10%2432
Overall100%38/10044/100
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 Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Large 2.1Mistral AIClaude Sonnet 3.5 v2Anthropic
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)128.5133.5 (best)
ECI rank#130 of 148#119 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.3%55.3% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%8.5% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00 (best)$3.00
Output$6.00 (best)$15.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.00 (best)$6.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens200,000 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDmistral-large-2411—
API providers2 (best)1
ReleasedNov 18, 2024Oct 22, 2024
Knowledge cutoffNov 2024Apr 30, 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
  • Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2$60.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Large 2.1 or Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2?

Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 44/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. 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 Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2?

Mistral Large 2.1 is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). 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 $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 (2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 133.5 (#119 of 148) and Mistral Large 2.1 128.5 (#130 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (129.2–137.5 vs 123.8–130.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 55.3%, Mistral Large 2.1 51.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 8.5%, 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 Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 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?

Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Mistral Large 2.1. Maximum output per response: Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Large 2.1 accepts text; Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 accepts text, images and PDFs. Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Large 2.1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Large 2.1 is the newest, released Nov 18, 2024. Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 came out Oct 22, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 2.1 Nov 2024, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 Apr 30, 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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