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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct vs Mixtral 8x7B vs Mistral Large 2.1

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct comes out ahead, 43 to 38 and 37 on our weighted score, though Mixtral 8x7B is 43% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 32B Instruct

    Released Sep 17, 2024

    43/100
    • ECI128.5
    • Price$0.70 / $2.80
    • Context131K
  2. Mistral AI

    Mixtral 8x7B

    Released Dec 11, 2023

    37/100
    • ECI118.5
    • Price$0.70 / $0.70
    • Context32K
  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 2.1

    Released Nov 18, 2024

    38/100
    • ECI128.5
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context131K
01 — Verdict

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is our pick

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 43/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38) and Mixtral 8x7B (37). Mixtral 8x7B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen2.5 32B Instruct and Mistral Large 2.1Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen2.5 32B Instruct 128.5 · Mistral Large 2.1 128.5 · Mixtral 8x7B 118.5
  • Lowest priceMixtral 8x7BMixtral 8x7B $0.70 · Qwen2.5 32B Instruct $1.23 · Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen2.5 32B Instruct and Mistral Large 2.1Qwen2.5 32B Instruct 131,072 · Mistral Large 2.1 131,072 · Mixtral 8x7B 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen2.5 32B Instruct: Text · Mixtral 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
MeasureWeightQwen2.5 32B InstructMixtral 8x7BMistral Large 2.1
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%513851
Price25%465727
Inputs & features15%252525
Context window10%24024
Overall100%43/10037/10038/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct vs Mixtral 8x7B vs Mistral Large 2.1 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen2.5 32B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Mixtral 8x7BMistral AIMistral Large 2.1Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)128.5 (best)118.5128.5 (best)
ECI rank#131 of 148#142 of 148#130 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions46.1%30.6%51.3% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.4%—7.8% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70 (best)$0.70 (best)$2.00
Output$2.80$0.70 (best)$6.00
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$1.23$0.70 (best)$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)32,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens32,000 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model IDqwen2-5-32b-instructopen-mixtral-8x7bmistral-large-2411
API providers112 (best)
ReleasedSep 17, 2024Dec 11, 2023Nov 18, 2024
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Jan 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.

  • Qwen2.5 32B Instruct$12.60
  • Mixtral 8x7B$8.40
  • Mistral Large 2.1$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen2.5 32B Instruct, Mixtral 8x7B or Mistral Large 2.1?

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 43/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38) and Mixtral 8x7B (37). Mixtral 8x7B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen2.5 32B Instruct, 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). Qwen2.5 32B Instruct costs $0.70 input / $2.80 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 $0.70 per million tokens for Mixtral 8x7B versus $1.23 for Qwen2.5 32B Instruct (1.8× as much) and $3.00 for Mistral Large 2.1 (4.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen2.5 32B Instruct 128.5 (#131 of 148), Mistral Large 2.1 128.5 (#130 of 148) and Mixtral 8x7B 118.5 (#142 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (123.5–130.0 vs 123.8–130.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Large 2.1 51.3%, Qwen2.5 32B Instruct 46.1%, Mixtral 8x7B 30.6%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen2.5 32B Instruct, Mixtral 8x7B and Mistral Large 2.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen2.5 32B Instruct leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct and Mistral Large 2.1 have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 32,000 for Mixtral 8x7B. Maximum output per response: Qwen2.5 32B Instruct up to 8,192, Mixtral 8x7B up to 32,000, Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct accepts text; 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, 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 32B Instruct came out Sep 17, 2024; Mixtral 8x7B came out Dec 11, 2023. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen2.5 32B Instruct Apr 2024, 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.