Best budget-focused coding specialist for high-volume developer teams.
88
Coding
38
Writing
52
Research
18
Images
91
Value
60
Long Context
Use this when
Affordable high-volume coding support
Skip this if
Strengths
Great value for code completion and implementation tasks
Faster and much cheaper than premium coding models
Strong fit for engineering teams scaling API usage
Weaknesses
Weaker on non-technical writing and nuanced strategy work
Grok 4 now offers stronger coding with a 2M context at only $2/$6
Monthly cost estimate
See what Codestral 25.01 actually costs at your usage level
Input tokens / month1M
10k50M
Output tokens / month500k
10k25M
Input cost
$0.900
Output cost
$1.35
Total / month
$2.25
Based on Codestral 25.01 API pricing: $0.9/1M input · $2.7/1M output. Real costs vary by provider discounts and caching. Check the provider for exact current rates.
Price History
Codestral 25.01 pricing over time
→0% since Mar 24
41 data points · tracked daily since Mar 24, 2026
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Recommendations are made independently based on real-world use and public benchmarks. See our disclosures for details.
Compare alternatives
Similar models worth checking before you commit.
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Mistral: Devstral Small 1.1
Devstral Small 1.1 is Mistral's code-specialized small model, purpose-built for software engineering tasks including code generation, debugging, and repository-level reasoning. It succeeds Devstral Small 1.0 with improved instruction following and agentic coding capabilities at a fraction of flagship model costs.
Verdict
The best dollar-for-dollar coding model for agentic pipelines that doesn't need to do anything else.
Quality score
54%
Pricing
$0.10/1M in
$0.30/1M out
Speed
Change history
Pricing moves, ranking shifts, and capability updates.
New ModelMar 16, 2026
Codestral 25.01 added to budget coding comparisons
The directory expanded affordable coding coverage by adding a stronger specialist option for engineering teams.
Codestral 25.01 is best for affordable high-volume coding support. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around budget pricing and very fast speed.
When should I avoid Codestral 25.01?
You need a single model that also handles writing or deep document synthesis.
What is a cheaper alternative to Codestral 25.01?
Meta: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is the lower-cost option to compare first when you want a similar workflow fit with less token spend.
What is a faster alternative to Codestral 25.01?
Mistral: Devstral Small 1.1 is the better pick when response time matters more than maximum depth or premium quality.
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You need a single model that also handles writing or deep document synthesis.
Best for developers who need a cheap, fast coding assistant for agentic workflows, code review, and multi-file repo tasks without paying flagship prices.
Context
131k tokens
Available via Mistral API and can be self-hosted via open weights. Pricing is among the lowest available for a code-specialized model. Designed to work within coding agent frameworks like SWE-agent and OpenHands.
Mistral Large 3 2512 is Mistral's flagship dense model updated in December 2025, offering strong multilingual reasoning and coding capabilities at a significantly reduced price point compared to its predecessor. It targets enterprise workloads that need high-quality outputs without paying top-tier frontier model prices.
Verdict
The best price-per-quality ratio in the non-mini flagship tier, especially for multilingual and long-context enterprise tasks.
Quality score
69%
Pricing
$0.50/1M in
$1.50/1M out
Speed
Balanced
Best for multilingual enterprise tasks, code generation, and long-document analysis where cost efficiency matters more than absolute state-of-the-art performance.
Context
262k tokens
Pricing of $0.50 input / $1.50 output per 1M tokens places it firmly in the budget-flagship category. Available via Mistral API (La Plateforme) and major cloud providers. December 2025 update ('2512') improves instruction following over the earlier 2407 release.
Multilingual enterprise tasks, code generation, and long-document analysis where cost efficiency matters more than absolute state-of-the-art performance.
Mistral Small 3 is a compact, budget-oriented language model from Mistral AI that punches above its weight class for everyday NLP tasks. It supersedes Mistral Large 2 in efficiency while targeting cost-sensitive deployments that don't require frontier-level reasoning.
Verdict
A lean, fast, affordable workhorse for text tasks — ideal for scale, not for depth.
Quality score
55%
Pricing
$0.05/1M in
$0.08/1M out
Speed
Very fast
Best for high-volume, cost-sensitive applications like customer support automation, content drafting, and lightweight code assistance.
Context
33k tokens
Pricing is exceptionally competitive at $0.05/$0.08 per 1M tokens. Available via Mistral's La Plateforme API and various third-party providers. GDPR-friendly EU-based hosting is a notable advantage for European enterprise customers. No image input or output support.
BudgetFastMultilingualLightweightHigh-volume
Best for
High-volume, cost-sensitive applications like customer support automation, content drafting, and lightweight code assistance.
