---
title: Mistral AI
slug: mistral-ai
url: "https://toolweight.com/options/mistral-ai"
homepage: "https://mistral.ai"
categories: llm-apis
last_verified: 2026-01-15
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Mistral AI

> European lab with an open-weight lineage and EU-resident hosting

Mistral is the credible European option: a Paris-based lab with EU data residency, on-premise licensing, and a habit of releasing capable models under Apache 2.0 alongside its commercial tier. It is rarely the outright capability leader, but for organisations whose blocker is jurisdiction rather than benchmark scores it is often the only shortlist entry that clears legal.

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Mistral AI |
| Company | Mistral AI |
| One-liner | European lab with an open-weight lineage and EU-resident hosting |
| Site | https://mistral.ai |
| Docs | https://docs.mistral.ai |
| Founded | 2023 |
| Funding | Late-stage private |
| Open source | Yes |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (selected models) |
| Brand | https://toolweight.com/vendors/Mistral AI |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [LLM APIs](https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis)
Ranked **#4 of 18** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Flagship model | Mistral Large 3 | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Mistral Medium is the better price-performance pick for most workloads on this platform. |
| Context window | - | Unknown | - | - | Withdrawn. The 128K figure previously here is the Mistral Large 2 (mistral-large-2411) window, not Large 3's, Large 3 shipped with a materially larger one. Blank until the flagship's own figure is verified against Mistral's docs. |
| Max output | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Image input | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.mistral.ai/capabilities/vision/ | - |
| Audio in/out | ◐ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Speech transcription models exist; no native speech output. |
| Open weights | ◐ | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.mistral.ai/getting-started/models/models_overview/ | Licensing is genuinely mixed, many models are Apache 2.0, others sit under a research licence requiring a commercial agreement. Check per model. |
| OpenAI-compat API | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| TTFT p50 | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Output tok/s | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| $/M input | - | Unknown | - | - | Withdrawn. The $2/M previously here is the Mistral Large 2 rate, while the row names Mistral Large 3, which shipped at materially lower per-token pricing. Quoting the old generation's price against the new generation's name overstates the cost of the model this row is actually about, so the cell is blank until Large 3's own rate is verified. |
| $/M output | - | Unknown | - | - | Withdrawn for the same reason as the input rate: $6/M was a Mistral Large 2 figure on a Mistral Large 3 row. |
| $/M cache read | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Batch discount | 50 % | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Batch inference is offered at a reduced rate on La Plateforme. |
| Tool use | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.mistral.ai/capabilities/function_calling/ | - |
| Schema output | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Effort control | ◐ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Reasoning is a separate model line rather than a per-request effort dial. |
| Computer use | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| MCP support | ◐ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Supported through the agents SDK rather than as a server-side connector. |
| Cache TTL | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Continuity policy | Dated model IDs (the -2411 style suffix) are stable and documented, and Mistral maintains a legacy-model page listing deprecation and retirement dates. The stronger guarantee is structural: for the Apache-licensed models you can keep serving the same weights yourself after the endpoint goes away. | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Notice period | - | Unknown | - | - | Deprecation dates are published per model but no fixed minimum window was located. |
| Pinnable versions | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.mistral.ai/getting-started/models/models_overview/ | - |
| Zero retention | ◐ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Enterprise and on-premise deployments give full control; the hosted platform's defaults are the usual abuse-monitoring retention. |
| Trains on your data | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| AU region | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | EU-resident by design; AU residency only via self-deployment of the open-weight models. |
| API since | 2023 | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Positioning | European models with open weights and deployable anywhere | Inferred | - | - | - |

**Verdict.** Rarely the capability leader, consistently the answer when the blocker is jurisdiction. EU residency, an on-premise licensing path and a real open-weight lineage make it the shortlist entry that clears legal review when the American labs cannot. Check licences per model, the Apache/research split is genuinely confusing.

## Alternatives

- [Qwen](https://toolweight.com/options/alibaba-qwen), Alibaba's model family, huge open-weight range, closed flagship
- [Amazon Bedrock](https://toolweight.com/options/amazon-bedrock), Multi-vendor model access inside your existing AWS account
- [Anthropic](https://toolweight.com/options/anthropic), Claude models, built around long agentic runs and tool use
- [Cerebras](https://toolweight.com/options/cerebras), Wafer-scale inference, the fastest tokens per second available
- [Cohere](https://toolweight.com/options/cohere), Enterprise-focused models built for RAG and private deployment
- [DeepSeek](https://toolweight.com/options/deepseek), Frontier-adjacent models at a small fraction of Western prices
- [Fireworks AI](https://toolweight.com/options/fireworks-ai), Fast open-weight inference with strong structured-output support
- [Google Gemini](https://toolweight.com/options/google-gemini), Gemini via AI Studio for prototyping or Vertex AI for production
- [Groq](https://toolweight.com/options/groq), Custom LPU silicon serving open-weight models at extreme speed
- [Meta Llama](https://toolweight.com/options/meta-llama), Open-weight Llama models, hosted almost everywhere but Meta
- [Moonshot AI](https://toolweight.com/options/moonshot-ai), Kimi models, open-weight agentic performance at low cost
- [OpenAI](https://toolweight.com/options/openai), GPT models plus audio, images and embeddings on one bill

## Licence and attribution

Data from toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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