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Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Codestral 2

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

Claude 3.5 Sonnet specs · Codestral 2 specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceCodestral 2

    Codestral 2 is roughly 16.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.90 vs $15.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowCodestral 2

    Codestral 2 accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    Across 1 shared benchmarks the two models split wins evenly. Look at task-specific scores rather than the average.

  • ModalitiesClaude 3.5 Sonnet

    Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Codestral 2.

  • OpennessCodestral 2

    Codestral 2 ships open weights (Mistral Non-Production License); Claude 3.5 Sonnet is API-only.

On balance Codestral 2 edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Claude 3.5 Sonnet's 1. Codestral 2 is roughly 16.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.90 vs $15.00 per 1M). Codestral 2 accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× the room for long documents and codebases.

Across 1 shared benchmarks the two models split wins evenly. Look at task-specific scores rather than the average. They differ in modality coverage, Claude 3.5 Sonnet handles text, vision while Codestral 2 handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Codestral 2 ships open weights (Mistral Non-Production License); Claude 3.5 Sonnet is API-only.

Codestral 2 is the newer of the two, released 3 months after Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is usually picked for coding llm and code review workloads, while Codestral 2 sees more deployments in code completion and coding llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecClaude 3.5 SonnetCodestral 2
ProviderAnthropicMistral
ReleasedOct 2024Jan 2025
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window200K tokens256K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$3.00 / 1M tokens$0.30 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$15.00 / 1M tokens$0.90 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsNoYes (Mistral Non-Production License)
API availableYesYes

Pricing at scale

What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$31.50 vs $2.25
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$315 vs $22.50
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$540 vs $50.40

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $31.50 vs $2.25 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $315 vs $22.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $540 vs $50.40 per month, model B comes out ahead.

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Claude 3.5 Sonnet$1.05
  • Codestral 2$0.075

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Claude 3.5 SonnetCodestral 2
  • HumanEval92.092.0
Pick Claude 3.5 Sonnet if

Claude 3.5 Sonnet fits when…

  • Mature and battle-tested
  • Strong code
  • Multimodal needs covering vision.
Pick Codestral 2 if

Codestral 2 fits when…

  • Fast inline completion
  • FIM support
  • Self-hostable for IP-sensitive teams
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 16.7× cheaper than Claude 3.5 Sonnet on output tokens.
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Mistral Non-Production License).
Don't want either?

Consider Claude Opus 4.7

Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.

See Claude Opus 4.7 specsClaude 3.5 Sonnet vs Claude Opus 4.7Codestral 2 vs Claude Opus 4.7

Frequently asked

  • Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Codestral 2 cheaper?
    Codestral 2 is cheaper at $0.90 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Codestral 2 accepts 256K tokens vs 200K for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
  • Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Codestral 2 better for coding?
    Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Codestral 2 are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.
  • Are either of these models open source?
    Codestral 2 ships open weights (Mistral Non-Production License). Claude 3.5 Sonnet is API-only.
  • When were Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Codestral 2 released?
    Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released by Anthropic on 2024-10-22. Codestral 2 was released by Mistral on 2025-01-14.
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