Codestral vs GPT-5 mini
Codestral is cheaper for every workload modelled here.
List prices checked
Specifications and rates
| Property | Codestral | GPT-5 mini |
|---|---|---|
| Input per 1M | $0.300 | $0.250 |
| Output per 1M | $0.900 | $2.00 |
| Cached input per 1M | — | $0.025 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.450 | $0.688 |
| Context window | 262K | 400K |
| Max output | — | 128K |
| Inputs accepted | text | text, image |
Source: Mistral AI pricing (May 2026) · OpenAI pricing (May 2026). Published list prices only — committed-use discounts, regional variation, and per-request charges are not included. Not yet independently re-checked against the vendor’s page.
Monthly cost by workload
Identical token volumes through both rate cards. Output-heavy profiles are where the ranking flips.
| Workload | Codestral | GPT-5 mini | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-app chat assistantA support or help assistant handling a few thousand conversations a month, with short prompts and short answers. | $11 | $15 | Codestralsaves $4.50/mo (30%) |
| RAG over documentsRetrieval-augmented answering where each request stuffs several retrieved passages into the prompt, so input dominates. | $104 | $105 | Codestralsaves $1.50/mo (1%) |
| Coding agentAn agentic loop that reads files and writes patches, generating heavy output and re-sending large context on every turn. | $210 | $300 | Codestralsaves $90/mo (30%) |
What each one is for
Codestral
by Mistral AI
A code-specialised model tuned for fill-in-the-middle completion, priced for the high request volume that inline editor autocomplete generates.
GPT-5 mini
by OpenAI
A fifth of GPT-5's price with the same 400k context window, which makes it the cheapest way to process very long documents without dropping to a small model.
Common questions
- Is Codestral or GPT-5 mini cheaper in 2026?
- Codestral, for every workload modelled here. On a blended 3:1 basis it costs $0.450 per million tokens against GPT-5 mini's $0.688.
- Which has the larger context window?
- GPT-5 mini, at 400K tokens against 262K. A larger window only helps if you can afford to fill it — the cost of one full-context request is in the table above.
- Which is cheaper for output-heavy work like agents?
- Codestral, at $0.900 per million output tokens against $2.00. Reasoning tokens bill as output, so for agentic loops this axis usually decides the invoice regardless of what the input rates look like.
- What is not included in these figures?
- Batch-processing discounts, fine-tuning, long-context surcharges above a provider's standard tier, and any enterprise agreement. These are published pay-as-you-go list prices, checked against each provider's own pricing page on the date shown.
- Is switching from GPT-5 mini to Codestral worth it?
- On price alone it is about 35% cheaper on a blended basis. Whether that survives contact with your workload depends on output quality and on retry rate — a cheaper model that needs two attempts is not cheaper. Model the specific volumes in the calculator before you migrate.