Qwen3-VL Plus vs Codestral 25.08 vs Grok Code Fast 1
Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 58 to 48 and 47 on our weighted score, though Codestral 25.08 is 18% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
Mistral AICodestral 25.08
47/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.90
- Context128K
xAIGrok Code Fast 1
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.50
- Context256K
Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Grok Code Fast 1 (48) and Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on inputs & features. Codestral 25.08 wins on price. 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 priceCodestral 25.08Codestral 25.08 $0.45 · Grok Code Fast 1 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Grok Code Fast 1 256,000 · Codestral 25.08 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images · Codestral 25.08: Text · Grok Code Fast 1: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-VL Plus | Codestral 25.08 | Grok Code Fast 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 60 | 64 | 60 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 24 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 47/100 | 48/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen) | Codestral 25.08Mistral AI | Grok Code Fast 1xAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 (best) | $0.30 | $0.20 (best) |
| Output | $1.60 | $0.90 (best) | $1.50 |
| Cached input | $0.04 | $0.03 (best) | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.55 | $0.45 (best) | $0.525 |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.30 / $2.40 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Mistral API | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 10,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3-vl-plus | codestral-2508 | — |
| API providers | 6 | 11 (best) | 7 |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Jul 30, 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
- Codestral 25.08$4.80
- Grok Code Fast 1$5.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-VL Plus, Codestral 25.08 or Grok Code Fast 1?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Grok Code Fast 1 (48) and Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on inputs & features. Codestral 25.08 wins on price. 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, Qwen3-VL Plus, Codestral 25.08 or Grok Code Fast 1?
Codestral 25.08 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Grok Code Fast 1 costs $0.20 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers); Qwen3-VL Plus costs $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.45 per million tokens for Codestral 25.08 versus $0.525 for Grok Code Fast 1 (1.2× as much) and $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet, Codestral 25.08 has not been scored yet and Grok Code Fast 1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-VL Plus, Codestral 25.08 and Grok Code Fast 1 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?
Qwen3-VL Plus has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Grok Code Fast 1 and 128,000 for Codestral 25.08. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768, Codestral 25.08 up to 8,192, Grok Code Fast 1 up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images; Codestral 25.08 accepts text; Grok Code Fast 1 accepts text. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3-VL Plus, Codestral 25.08 and Grok Code Fast 1 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Grok Code Fast 1 came out Sep 2, 2025; Codestral 25.08 came out Jul 30, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-VL Plus Apr 2025.
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.
