Grok-3 vs Mistral Large 2
Grok-3 (2026) and Mistral Large 2 (2025) are frontier reasoning models from xAI and MistralAI. Grok-3 ships a 1M-token context window, while Mistral Large 2 ships a 128K-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Grok-3 leads by 10.2 pts. On pricing, Mistral Large 2 costs $0.48/1M input tokens versus $0.8/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Mistral Large 2 is ~67% cheaper at $0.48/1M; pay for Grok-3 only for reasoning depth.
Specs
| Released | 2026-01-15 | 2025-11-25 |
| Context window | 1M | 128K |
| Parameters | 1B | 123B |
| Architecture | - | decoder only |
| License | Proprietary | True |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-04 | 2025-07 |
Pricing and availability
| Grok-3 | Mistral Large 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.8/1M tokens | $0.48/1M tokens |
| Output price | $2.4/1M tokens | $2.4/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Grok-3 | Mistral Large 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Grok-3 | Mistral Large 2 |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU PRO | 79.9 | 69.7 |
| Chatbot Arena | 1405.0 | 1265.0 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, MMLU PRO has Grok-3 at 79.9 and Mistral Large 2 at 69.7, with Grok-3 ahead by 10.2 points; Chatbot Arena has Grok-3 at 1405 and Mistral Large 2 at 1265, with Grok-3 ahead by 140 points. The largest visible gap is 140 points on Chatbot Arena, which matters most when that benchmark mirrors your workload. Treat isolated benchmark wins as directional, because provider routing, prompt style, and tool access can move real application results.
The capability footprint differs most on reasoning mode: Grok-3. Both models share vision, multimodal input, function calling, and tool use, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Grok-3 lists $0.8/1M input and $2.4/1M output tokens, while Mistral Large 2 lists $0.48/1M input and $2.4/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Mistral Large 2 lower by about $0.22 per million blended tokens. Availability is 3 providers versus 4, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Grok-3 when reasoning depth and larger context windows are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Large 2 when vision-heavy evaluation, lower input-token cost, and broader provider choice are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Grok-3 or Mistral Large 2?
Grok-3 supports 1M tokens, while Mistral Large 2 supports 128K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Grok-3 or Mistral Large 2?
Mistral Large 2 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Grok-3 costs $0.8/1M input and $2.4/1M output tokens. Mistral Large 2 costs $0.48/1M input and $2.4/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Grok-3 or Mistral Large 2 open source?
Grok-3 is listed under Proprietary. Mistral Large 2 is listed under True. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Grok-3 or Mistral Large 2?
Both Grok-3 and Mistral Large 2 expose vision. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Which is better for multimodal input, Grok-3 or Mistral Large 2?
Both Grok-3 and Mistral Large 2 expose multimodal input. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Where can I run Grok-3 and Mistral Large 2?
Grok-3 is available on OpenRouter, xAI Console, and Chutes AI. Mistral Large 2 is available on OpenRouter, IBM watsonx, AWS Bedrock, and Mistral AI Studio. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.