Mistral AI · language model
Mistral Large: pricing, context and benchmarks
Mistral Large is a language model from Mistral AI released on February 26, 2024. It costs $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, with a 128K-token context window. Epoch AI ranks it #123 of 125 rated models.
| Performance (ECI) | 1/40 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 7/30 | |
| Context | 3/15 | |
| Features | 8/15 |
What you need to know about Mistral Large
Mistral Large was released by Mistral AI (France) on February 26, 2024. It accepts text and files as input and produces text. Its context window reaches 128,000 tokens, larger than 19 % of the models in the registry, and it can write up to 102,400 tokens in one go.
Released more than 2 years ago, it belongs to a generation most vendors have since superseded.
Mistral Large pricing
On OpenRouter, Mistral Large costs $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens. Counting three tokens read for every token written, its average price is $3 per million, more expensive than 77 % of paid models (3.9 times the median of $0.76).
A concrete example: a task that sends 2,000 tokens (about 1,500 words) and receives a 500-token answer costs $0.007. At 1,000 tasks a day, budget $210 a month. The price calculator redoes this with your own volumes.
Tokens already sent and cached are billed at $0.2 per million.
Performance and benchmarks
The Epoch Capabilities Index (ECI), which aggregates published results across many benchmarks, gives Mistral Large a score of 122.1 (range 114.8 to 124.7). That places it #123 of 125 rated models.
For at least equal performance, Claude Haiku 5.5, Gemini 3.7 Flash, and Gemini 3.8 Flash cost at least 30% less.
Features, privacy and local use
- It supports tool calling, so it can drive an AI agent, call APIs or MCP servers.
- It can answer in an enforced JSON format (structured outputs).
- Its knowledge stops at November 2024.
Its weights are not published: it can only be used through the Mistral AI API or a broker such as OpenRouter, which means sending your data off your machines.
Other Mistral AI models
| Model | Released | Avg. price | ECI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mistral Large 4 | Oct 6, 2026 | $2.07 | 150 |
| Mistral Medium 3.5 | Apr 30, 2026 | $3 | 141.4 |
| Mistral Small 4 | Mar 16, 2026 | $0.26 | — |
| Devstral 2 2512 | Dec 9, 2025 | $0.8 | — |
| Ministral 3 14B 2512 | Dec 2, 2025 | $0.2 | — |
| Ministral 3 8B 2512 | Dec 2, 2025 | $0.15 | — |
| Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Dec 2, 2025 | $0.1 | — |
| Mistral Large 3 2512 | Dec 1, 2025 | $0.75 | — |
Verdict
Mistral Large scores 19/100 on our grid, which only uses published figures.
Strengths
- Agent-ready: tool calling and structured JSON output.
Limitations
- Modest performance: behind 97 % of rated models.
- Older generation, often replaced by a newer model from the same vendor.
Avoid if…
- you process large volumes on a tight budget;
- your data must not leave your servers.
Alternatives
- Gemma 2 27B$0.65
- o3 Mini$1.93
- Claude Haiku 4.5$2
- GPT-4.1$3.5
- R1 0528$0.91
- DeepSeek V3 0324$0.5
Comparisons and tools
Learn more
Frequently asked questions
How much does Mistral Large cost?
$2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens on OpenRouter (checked October 25, 2026). A task with 2,000 tokens read and 500 written costs $0.007.
How big is Mistral Large's context window?
128,000 tokens, roughly 96,000 words, with a maximum of 102,400 output tokens.
Can Mistral Large run locally?
No, Mistral AI does not publish its weights: it is API-only.
Is Mistral Large suitable for an AI agent?
Technically yes: it supports tool calling and structured outputs. Then check its cost for your volume.
How good is Mistral Large?
Epoch AI ranks it #123 of 125 rated models (ECI 122.1).
What are the alternatives to Mistral Large?
The closest models on price and performance are Gemma 2 27B, o3 Mini, and Claude Haiku 4.5.
Related articles
- Mistral AI: models, pricing and agentsOctober 25, 2026
- LLM benchmarks: how to read model rankingsOctober 24, 2026
- Running a local LLM: hardware, software, and limitationsOctober 24, 2026
- Open-source or closed models for your AI agents?October 5, 2026
Neutrality. No affiliate links. No vendor pays to be reviewed, rated or ranked. Reviews are directed by François Chollet, neutral and factual, and every data point is dated and sourced. How we score