Claude Opus 4 vs Mistral Large 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 · Mistral Large 2 specs- PriceMistral Large 2
Mistral Large 2 is roughly 12.5× cheaper on output tokens ($6.00 vs $75.00 per 1M).
- Context windowClaude Opus 4
Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× 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 Mistral Large 2.
- OpennessMistral Large 2
Mistral Large 2 ships open weights (Mistral Research License); Claude Opus 4 is API-only.
On balance Claude Opus 4 edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Mistral Large 2's 2. Mistral Large 2 is roughly 12.5× cheaper on output tokens ($6.00 vs $75.00 per 1M). Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× 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 Mistral Large 2 handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Mistral Large 2 ships open weights (Mistral Research License); Claude Opus 4 is API-only.
Claude Opus 4 is the newer of the two, released 10 months after Mistral Large 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 Mistral Large 2 sees more deployments in coding llm and multilingual. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude Opus 4 | Mistral Large 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Mistral |
| Released | May 2025 | Jul 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | $2.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $75.00 / 1M tokens | $6.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-03 | 2024-04 |
| Open weights | No | Yes (Mistral Research License) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
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 $15.00
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$1,575 vs $150
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$2,700 vs $336
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $158 vs $15.00 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $1,575 vs $150 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $2,700 vs $336 per month, model B comes out ahead.
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
- Mistral Large 2$0.500
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU,84.0
- HumanEval95.092.0
- SWE-bench Verified72.5
Claude Opus 4 fits when…
- Set the SWE-bench bar at launch
- Excellent for writing and code
- Strong long-context handling
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 128K for Mistral Large 2.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Mistral Large 2 fits when…
- Strong code and math
- EU data residency
- Multilingual
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 12.5× cheaper than Claude Opus 4 on output tokens.
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Mistral Research License).
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude Opus 4 or Mistral Large 2 cheaper?
Mistral Large 2 is cheaper at $6.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $75.00 / 1M tokens for Claude Opus 4.Which has the larger context window?
Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K for Mistral Large 2.Is Claude Opus 4 or Mistral Large 2 better for coding?
Both Claude Opus 4 and Mistral Large 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?
Mistral Large 2 ships open weights (Mistral Research License). Claude Opus 4 is API-only.When were Claude Opus 4 and Mistral Large 2 released?
Claude Opus 4 was released by Anthropic on 2025-05-22. Mistral Large 2 was released by Mistral on 2024-07-24.
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