Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026
In this head-to-head showdown, Codestral 25.01 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,320 vs 1,248), while Codestral 25.01 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (51.8%), while Codestral 25.01 is more budget-friendly at $0.9/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.
9 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost
Original Claude 3 flagship. Kept so opus 3 vs later Opus and vs GPT-4o still resolve.
Mistral code-specialist model.
Δ 72 Arena Elo pts
148 tok/s
$0.9 / 1M output
Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.
Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.
Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.
Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy
Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness
Cost per million tokens and max context window length
| Benchmark | Claude 3 Opus | Codestral 25.01 | Advantage Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preference Elo | +72 | ||
| Coding Elo | — | — | |
| LiveBench | +7.8% | ||
| SWE-bench | +13.4% | ||
| GPQA Diamond | +8% | ||
| Time to first token | +270 ms | ||
| Output speed | 48 tok/s | 148 tok/s | +100 tok/s |
| Input price | $0.3/1M | +$14.7/1M | |
| Output price | $0.9/1M | +$74.1/1M | |
| Context window | +56k |
Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).
Codestral 25.01 is estimated to save $1,626.00/month ($19,512/year).
Higher SWE-bench (51.8%).
Lower output list price ($0.9/1M).
Lower TTFT (150 ms).
Larger window (256k).
Claude 3 Opus is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.
| Target Workload | Recommended Pick | Evaluation Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Repo / coding agents | Codestral 25.01 | Higher SWE-bench (51.8%). |
| High-volume chat | Codestral 25.01 | Lower output list price ($0.9/1M). |
| Voice / low-latency UI | Codestral 25.01 | Lower TTFT (150 ms). |
| Long-document RAG | Codestral 25.01 | Larger window (256k). |
| Screenshots / vision | Claude 3 Opus | Claude 3 Opus is the side marked multimodal in the catalog. |
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Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry
