LLM·Dex
Newsletter

Grok 2 vs Mistral Small

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

Updated

Grok 2 specs · Mistral Small specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceMistral Small

    Mistral Small publishes pricing ($0.60 / 1M output tokens) while Grok 2 does not.

  • Context windowTie

    Both ship a 128K-token context window.

  • BenchmarksTie

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

  • ModalitiesGrok 2

    Grok 2 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Mistral Small.

  • OpennessMistral Small

    Mistral Small ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Grok 2 is API-only.

On balance Mistral Small edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Grok 2's 1. Mistral Small publishes pricing ($0.60 / 1M output tokens) while Grok 2 does not. Both ship a 128K-token context window.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Grok 2 handles text, vision while Mistral Small handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Mistral Small ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Grok 2 is API-only.

Mistral Small is the newer of the two, released 1 months after Grok 2, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Grok 2 is usually picked for chatbots workloads, while Mistral Small sees more deployments in cheapest llm and fastest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGrok 2Mistral Small
ProviderxAIMistral
ReleasedAug 2024Sep 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window128K tokens128K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1MPricing not published$0.20 / 1M tokens
Output · 1MPricing not published$0.60 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsNoYes (Apache-2.0)
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, vs $1.50
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $15.00
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $33.60

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).

Price calculator

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

  • Grok 2Pricing unavailable
  • Mistral Small$0.050

Benchmarks compared

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

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick Grok 2 if

Grok 2 fits when…

  • Free on X Premium
  • Real-time data
  • Multimodal needs covering vision.
Pick Mistral Small if

Mistral Small fits when…

  • Apache-2.0 open-weight
  • Fast and cheap
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
Don't want either?

Consider Grok 4

xAI's mid-2025 flagship, top scores on Humanity's Last Exam at launch, with native real-time X integration.

See Grok 4 specsGrok 2 vs Grok 4Mistral Small vs Grok 4

Frequently asked

  • Is Grok 2 or Mistral Small cheaper?
    Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Both Grok 2 and Mistral Small ship a 128K-token context window.
  • Is Grok 2 or Mistral Small better for coding?
    Both Grok 2 and Mistral Small 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 Small ships open weights (Apache-2.0). Grok 2 is API-only.
  • When were Grok 2 and Mistral Small released?
    Grok 2 was released by xAI on 2024-08-13. Mistral Small was released by Mistral on 2024-09-18.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.