ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mixtral 8x7B vs Mistral Large 2.1

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

    Mixtral 8x7B

    Released Dec 11, 2023

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

  2. 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

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

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 inputsMixtral 8x7B: Text · Mistral Large 2.1: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMixtral 8x7BMistral Large 2.1
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3851
Price25%5727
Inputs & features15%2525
Context window10%024
Overall100%37/10038/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mixtral 8x7B vs Mistral Large 2.1 specifications side by side
SpecificationMixtral 8x7BMistral AIMistral Large 2.1Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)118.5128.5 (best)
ECI rank#142 of 148#130 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions30.6%51.3% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—7.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70 (best)$2.00
Output$0.70 (best)$6.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.70 (best)$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window32,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output32,000 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDopen-mixtral-8x7bmistral-large-2411
API providers12 (best)
ReleasedDec 11, 2023Nov 18, 2024
Knowledge cutoffJan 2024Nov 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.

  • Mixtral 8x7B$8.40
  • Mistral Large 2.1$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

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, Mixtral 8x7B or Mistral Large 2.1?

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 Mixtral 8x7B and Mistral Large 2.1 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: Mixtral 8x7B up to 32,000, Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mixtral 8x7B accepts text; Mistral Large 2.1 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: Mixtral 8x7B Jan 2024, 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons