Grok Code Fast 1 vs Mistral Large 4
xAI · US | Mistral AI · France · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Grok Code Fast 1 for fast, cheap agentic coding at $0.20/$1.50 or low-latency code generation and terminal tasks. Pick Mistral Large 4 for mistral's largest model to date — 1.05t total parameters, 49b active per token (granular moe), plus a 1.6b-parameter vision encoder or trained from scratch on 3,800 nvidia grace blackwell gpus in mistral's own european data centers, across 160+ languages. On a tight budget at scale, Grok Code Fast 1 is the value pick.
Grok Code Fast 1 (xAI, US) and Mistral Large 4 (Mistral AI, France) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. Grok Code Fast 1 is xAI's speed-tier coding model at $0.20/$1.50 with a 256K window — cheap, fast agentic code over frontier quality. Mistral Large 4 is mistral's October 6, 2026 public preview of 'Le Chonk' — a 1.05T-parameter, natively multimodal MoE model with open weights planned by month's end. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Price: Grok Code Fast 1 is about 3.4× cheaper on input ($0.2/$1.5 per 1M tokens vs $0.68/$2.09 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
- ▸Context window: Mistral Large 4 holds 3.9× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
- ▸Recency: Mistral Large 4 is the newer model by about 13 months (released October 6, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
- ▸Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-France matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Grok Code Fast 1 | Mistral Large 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI (US) | Mistral AI (France) |
| Released | August 28, 2025 | October 6, 2026 |
| Context window | 256K (~384 pages) | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $0.2/$1.5 per 1M tokens | $0.68/$2.09 per 1M tokens |
| Open weight? | No — API only | No — API only |
| Modalities | text, code | text, image, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Fast, cheap agentic coding at $0.20/$1.50
Grok Code Fast 1
At $0.2/$1.5 per 1M tokens it undercuts Mistral Large 4 ($0.68/$2.09 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
Low-latency code generation and terminal tasks
Grok Code Fast 1
XAI's speed-tier coding model at $0.20/$1.50 with a 256K window — cheap, fast agentic code over frontier quality — and it runs cheaper at $0.2/$1.5 per 1M tokens.
High-volume coding pipelines where speed beats peak quality
Grok Code Fast 1
Mistral Large 4 is comparatively weak here — scores 61.7% on DeepSWE v1.1, trailing DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (74.2%) and Kimi K3 (68.0%) on that coding benchmark
Mistral's largest model to date — 1.05T total parameters, 49B active per token (granular MoE), plus a 1.6B-parameter vision encoder
Mistral Large 4
Its 1M tokens window holds about 3.9× more than Grok Code Fast 1's 256K in a single prompt.
Trained from scratch on 3,800 Nvidia Grace Blackwell GPUs in Mistral's own European data centers, across 160+ languages
Mistral Large 4
Mistral's October 6, 2026 public preview of 'Le Chonk' — a 1.05T-parameter, natively multimodal MoE model with open weights planned by month's end — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.
Hybrid instruct/reasoning design — answers quickly by default or switches into step-by-step reasoning
Mistral Large 4
Mistral's October 6, 2026 public preview of 'Le Chonk' — a 1.05T-parameter, natively multimodal MoE model with open weights planned by month's end — and it is the newer of the two.
Lowest cost at scale
Grok Code Fast 1
At $0.2/$1.5 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
Mistral Large 4
Its 1M tokens window is about 3.9× larger than Grok Code Fast 1's 256K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Grok Code Fast 1
At $0.2/$1.5 per 1M tokens it undercuts Mistral Large 4, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Mistral Large 4
Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is fast, cheap agentic coding at $0.20/$1.50
→ Grok Code Fast 1
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is mistral's largest model to date — 1.05t total parameters, 49b active per token (granular moe), plus a 1.6b-parameter vision encoder
→ Mistral Large 4
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ Grok Code Fast 1 or Mistral Large 4
Origin (US vs France) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
Grok Code Fast 1: where it fits
XAI's speed-tier coding model at $0.20/$1.50 with a 256K window — cheap, fast agentic code over frontier quality. Released August 28, 2025 by xAI, it is built for fast, cheap agentic coding at $0.20/$1.50, low-latency code generation and terminal tasks, high-volume coding pipelines where speed beats peak quality, and a 256K window sized for real codebases.
Its trade-offs are real: text and code only — no image, audio or video input, xAI did not publish a SWE-Bench Verified score, a speed-tier coding model, not a frontier reasoner, and narrow focus — built for code, not general knowledge work. At $0.2 in / $1.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Mistral Large 4: where it fits
Mistral's October 6, 2026 public preview of 'Le Chonk' — a 1.05T-parameter, natively multimodal MoE model with open weights planned by month's end. Released October 6, 2026 by Mistral AI, it is built for mistral's largest model to date — 1.05T total parameters, 49B active per token (granular MoE), plus a 1.6B-parameter vision encoder, trained from scratch on 3,800 Nvidia Grace Blackwell GPUs in Mistral's own European data centers, across 160+ languages, hybrid instruct/reasoning design — answers quickly by default or switches into step-by-step reasoning, and open weights planned by end of October 2026, which would make it among the largest open-weight models available.
Its trade-offs: still a public preview, not a finished release — Mistral says training is ongoing with 'no signs of saturation', weights not yet shipped as of mid-October 2026 — API-only for now despite the open-weight framing, launch pricing ($0.68/$2.09 per million) is a preview discount — Mistral's own model page lists a $1.36/$4.18 list price once the promotion ends, and scores 61.7% on DeepSWE v1.1, trailing DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (74.2%) and Kimi K3 (68.0%) on that coding benchmark. At $0.68 in / $2.09 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
This is less "which is smarter" and more "which ecosystem fits." Grok Code Fast 1 (US) and Mistral Large 4 (France) differ on pricing philosophy, data-residency, and tooling as much as on raw scores. Grok Code Fast 1 is the cheaper option, which matters at volume. The pragmatic move is to run one real task through both and judge the outputs against your own constraints — including where your data is allowed to be processed.
Want both Grok Code Fast 1 and Mistral Large 4 without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is Grok Code Fast 1 or Mistral Large 4 better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Grok Code Fast 1 leans toward fast, cheap agentic coding at $0.20/$1.50 while Mistral Large 4 leans toward mistral's largest model to date — 1.05t total parameters, 49b active per token (granular moe), plus a 1.6b-parameter vision encoder, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Grok Code Fast 1 or Mistral Large 4?
Grok Code Fast 1 is cheaper — $0.2/$1.5 per 1M tokens vs $0.68/$2.09 per 1M tokens, roughly 3.4× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Mistral Large 4 — 1M tokens vs 256K, about 3.9× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Grok Code Fast 1 and Mistral Large 4 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Grok Code Fast 1, Mistral Large 4 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Grok Code Fast 1 or Mistral Large 4?
Mistral Large 4 — released October 6, 2026, about 13 months after Grok Code Fast 1.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.