Mistral Large vs Mistral Magistral Small 2509
Mistral Large (2024) and Mistral Magistral Small 2509 (2025) are compact production models from MistralAI. Mistral Large ships a 32k-token context window, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 ships a not-yet-sourced context window. On pricing, Mistral Large costs $0.32/1M input tokens versus $0.5/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
Mistral Large is ~56% cheaper at $0.32/1M; pay for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 only for provider fit.
Specs
| Released | 2024-02-08 | 2025-09-01 |
| Context window | 32k | — |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | - | - |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-03 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Mistral Large | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.32/1M tokens | $0.5/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.96/1M tokens | $1.5/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Mistral Large | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Mistral Large, function calling: Mistral Large, tool use: Mistral Large, and structured outputs: Mistral Large. Both models share the core language-model surface, 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, Mistral Large lists $0.32/1M input and $0.96/1M output tokens, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lists $0.5/1M input and $1.5/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Mistral Large lower by about $0.29 per million blended tokens. Availability is 8 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Mistral Large when vision-heavy evaluation, lower input-token cost, and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when provider fit are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions. It also helps separate model capability from provider packaging, which can change cost and latency.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Mistral Large or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Mistral Large is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Mistral Large costs $0.32/1M input and $0.96/1M output tokens. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.5/1M input and $1.5/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Mistral Large or Mistral Magistral Small 2509 open source?
Mistral Large is listed under Proprietary. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is listed under Proprietary. 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, Mistral Large or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Mistral Large has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Which is better for function calling, Mistral Large or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Mistral Large has the clearer documented function calling signal in this comparison. If function calling is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for tool use, Mistral Large or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Mistral Large has the clearer documented tool use signal in this comparison. If tool use is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Mistral Large and Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Mistral Large is available on NVIDIA NIM, Microsoft Foundry, AWS Bedrock, Mistral AI Studio, and IBM watsonx. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is available on AWS Bedrock. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.