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Codestral 2 vs Command R

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

Updated

Codestral 2 specs · Command R specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceCodestral 2

    Codestral 2 is roughly 1.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.90 vs $1.50 per 1M).

  • Context windowCodestral 2

    Codestral 2 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text.

  • OpennessTie

    Both ship open weights, self-host either one.

On balance Codestral 2 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Command R's 0. Codestral 2 is roughly 1.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.90 vs $1.50 per 1M). Codestral 2 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both ship open weights, self-host either one.

Codestral 2 is the newer of the two, released 10 months after Command R, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Codestral 2 is usually picked for code completion and coding llm workloads, while Command R sees more deployments in rag and customer support. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecCodestral 2Command R
ProviderMistralCohere
ReleasedJan 2025Mar 2024
Modalitiestexttext
Context window256K tokens128K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$0.30 / 1M tokens$0.50 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$0.90 / 1M tokens$1.50 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (Mistral Non-Production License)Yes (CC-BY-NC 4.0)
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$2.25 vs $3.75
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$22.50 vs $37.50
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$50.40 vs $84.00

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $2.25 vs $3.75 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $22.50 vs $37.50 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $50.40 vs $84.00 per month, model A 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.

  • Codestral 2$0.075
  • Command R$0.125

Benchmarks compared

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

Codestral 2Command R
  • HumanEval92.0
Pick Codestral 2 if

Codestral 2 fits when…

  • Fast inline completion
  • FIM support
  • Self-hostable for IP-sensitive teams
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 1.7× cheaper than Command R on output tokens.
  • Long-context tasks, handles 256K tokens vs 128K for Command R.
Pick Command R if

Command R fits when…

  • Cheap RAG
  • Reliable tool-use
Don't want either?

Consider Mistral Large 2

Mistral's flagship API model, strong on code and reasoning, EU-friendly hosting.

See Mistral Large 2 specsCodestral 2 vs Mistral Large 2Command R vs Mistral Large 2

Frequently asked

  • Is Codestral 2 or Command R cheaper?
    Codestral 2 is cheaper at $0.90 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $1.50 / 1M tokens for Command R.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Codestral 2 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K for Command R.
  • Is Codestral 2 or Command R better for coding?
    Both Codestral 2 and Command R 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?
    Both ship with open weights. Codestral 2 is licensed under Mistral Non-Production License; Command R under CC-BY-NC 4.0.
  • When were Codestral 2 and Command R released?
    Codestral 2 was released by Mistral on 2025-01-14. Command R was released by Cohere on 2024-03-11.
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