ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct vs Mistral Large

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct comes out ahead, 50 to 44 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

    Released Sep 19, 2024

    50/100
    • ECI118.5
    • Price$0.05 / $0.10
    • Context131K
  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large

    Released Feb 26, 2024

    44/100
    • ECI122.0
    • Price$0.50 / $1.50
    • Context128K
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is our pick

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Mistral Large (44). It leads on price. Mistral Large wins on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral LargeCapabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Large 122.0 · Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 118.5
  • Lowest priceQwen2.5 7B InstructQwen2.5 7B Instruct $0.063 · Mistral Large $0.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen2.5 7B InstructQwen2.5 7B Instruct 131,072 · Mistral Large 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral LargeQwen2.5 7B Instruct: Text · Mistral Large: Text, PDFs
  • Self-hostingQwen2.5 7B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen2.5 7B InstructMistral Large
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3842
Price25%10053
Inputs & features15%2545
Context window10%2524
Overall100%50/10044/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct vs Mistral Large specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Mistral LargeMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)118.5122.0 (best)
ECI rank#159 of 165#153 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions35.5%38.8% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics2.5% (best)1.9%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.50
Output$0.10 (best)$1.50
Cached input—$0.05
Blended (3:1)$0.063 (best)$0.75
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens102,400 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0Proprietary
API model ID—mistral-large-latest
API providers411 (best)
ReleasedSep 19, 2024Feb 26, 2024
Knowledge cutoff—Nov 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.

  • Qwen2.5 7B Instruct$0.70
  • Mistral Large$8.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen2.5 7B Instruct or Mistral Large?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Mistral Large (44). It leads on price. Mistral Large wins on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct or Mistral Large?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). Mistral Large costs $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.063 per million tokens for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct versus $0.75 for Mistral Large (12× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Large scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Large 122.0 (#153 of 165) and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 118.5 (#159 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (115.7–124.8 vs 110.6–121.2), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Large 38.8%, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 35.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 2.5%, Mistral Large 1.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct and Mistral Large yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Large 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?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Mistral Large. Maximum output per response: Qwen2.5 7B Instruct up to 8,192, Mistral Large up to 102,400 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct accepts text; Mistral Large accepts text and PDFs. Mistral Large handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Mistral Large is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 19, 2024. Mistral Large came out Feb 26, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large Nov 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 Nov 2, 2026.