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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3-VL Plus vs Codestral 25.08

Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 58 to 47 on our weighted score, though Codestral 25.08 is 18% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL Plus

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-VL Plus

  2. Mistral AI

    Codestral 25.08

    Released Jul 30, 2025

    47/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $0.90
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Codestral 25.08

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Codestral 25.08 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images · Codestral 25.08: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-VL PlusCodestral 25.08
Price50%6064
Inputs & features30%7035
Context window20%3724
Overall100%58/10047/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3-VL Plus vs Codestral 25.08 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)Codestral 25.08Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.20 (best)$0.30
Output$1.60$0.90 (best)
Cached input$0.04$0.03 (best)
Blended (3:1)$0.55$0.45 (best)
Long-context rateOver 32K: $0.30 / $2.40Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3-vl-pluscodestral-2508
API providers611 (best)
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Jul 30, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025—
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.

  • Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
  • Codestral 25.08$4.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-VL Plus or Codestral 25.08?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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 or Codestral 25.08?

Codestral 25.08 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). 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 $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet and Codestral 25.08 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-VL Plus and Codestral 25.08 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both 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 128,000 for Codestral 25.08. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768, Codestral 25.08 up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images; Codestral 25.08 accepts text. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3-VL Plus and Codestral 25.08 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the newest, released Sep 23, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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