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Claude Opus 4 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 Opus 4 specs · Codestral 2 specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceCodestral 2

    Codestral 2 is roughly 83.3× cheaper on output tokens ($0.90 vs $75.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowCodestral 2

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

  • BenchmarksClaude Opus 4

    Claude Opus 4 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on HumanEval (Python coding), where it scores 95.0 vs 92.0.

  • ModalitiesClaude Opus 4

    Claude Opus 4 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Codestral 2.

  • OpennessCodestral 2

    Codestral 2 ships open weights (Mistral Non-Production License); Claude Opus 4 is API-only.

On balance Codestral 2 edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Claude Opus 4's 2. Codestral 2 is roughly 83.3× cheaper on output tokens ($0.90 vs $75.00 per 1M). Codestral 2 accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× the room for long documents and codebases.

Claude Opus 4 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on HumanEval (Python coding), where it scores 95.0 vs 92.0. They differ in modality coverage, Claude Opus 4 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 Opus 4 is API-only.

Claude Opus 4 is the newer of the two, released 4 months after Codestral 2, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude Opus 4 is usually picked for coding llm and coding agent 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 Opus 4Codestral 2
ProviderAnthropicMistral
ReleasedMay 2025Jan 2025
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window200K tokens256K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$15.00 / 1M tokens$0.30 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$75.00 / 1M tokens$0.90 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff2025-03,
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$158 vs $2.25
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$1,575 vs $22.50
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$2,700 vs $50.40

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $158 vs $2.25 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $1,575 vs $22.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $2,700 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 Opus 4$5.25
  • 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 Opus 4Codestral 2
  • HumanEval95.092.0
  • SWE-bench Verified72.5
Pick Claude Opus 4 if

Claude Opus 4 fits when…

  • Set the SWE-bench bar at launch
  • Excellent for writing and code
  • Strong long-context handling
  • 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, 83.3× cheaper than Claude Opus 4 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 Opus 4 vs Claude Opus 4.7Codestral 2 vs Claude Opus 4.7

Frequently asked

  • Is Claude Opus 4 or Codestral 2 cheaper?
    Codestral 2 is cheaper at $0.90 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $75.00 / 1M tokens for Claude Opus 4.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Codestral 2 accepts 256K tokens vs 200K for Claude Opus 4.
  • Is Claude Opus 4 or Codestral 2 better for coding?
    Both Claude Opus 4 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 Opus 4 is API-only.
  • When were Claude Opus 4 and Codestral 2 released?
    Claude Opus 4 was released by Anthropic on 2025-05-22. Codestral 2 was released by Mistral on 2025-01-14.
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