Codestral 25.08 vs GPT-5.4 Mini
Codestral 25.08 and GPT-5.4 Mini are both current production-tier models. Codestral 25.08 is meaningfully cheaper at $0.30 / $0.90 per 1M. Codestral 25.08 leads on coding. GPT-5.4 Mini leads on reasoning, general knowledge, long-context retrieval.
Specs side by side
| Metric | Mistral AI Codestral 25.08 | OpenAI GPT-5.4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Input price (per 1M) | $0.3 | $0.75 |
| Output price (per 1M) | $0.9 | $4.5 |
| Context window | 256k tokens | 400k tokens |
| Speed tier | fast | fast |
| Open weights | Yes | No |
| EU region | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | La Plateforme | No |
| Prompt caching | No | Yes |
| Vision input | No | Yes |
| Extended thinking | No | Yes |
When to choose each
Choose Codestral 25.08 if…
- Cost is a priority ($0.30 / $0.90 per 1M vs $0.75 / $4.5 per 1M)
- You need open weights for self-hosting or fine-tuning
- You want a free tier for prototyping
- Coding is central to your workload
Choose GPT-5.4 Mini if…
- You need image input / vision
- Reasoning is central to your workload
- General knowledge is central to your workload
Benchmark delta
Codestral 25.08 leads on
- Coding
GPT-5.4 Mini leads on
- Reasoning
- General knowledge
- Long-context retrieval
- Instruction following
- Multilingual
- Tool use
FAQ — Codestral 25.08 vs GPT-5.4 Mini
Codestral 25.08 vs GPT-5.4 Mini — which is better?
Codestral 25.08 and GPT-5.4 Mini are both current production-tier models. Codestral 25.08 is meaningfully cheaper at $0.30 / $0.90 per 1M. Codestral 25.08 leads on coding. GPT-5.4 Mini leads on reasoning, general knowledge, long-context retrieval. The right pick depends on your use case — see "When to choose each" above for a data-driven decision.
How does Codestral 25.08 pricing compare to GPT-5.4 Mini?
Codestral 25.08 costs $0.30 / $0.90 per 1M vs GPT-5.4 Mini at $0.75 / $4.5 per 1M. Codestral 25.08 is cheaper on output tokens by roughly 400%. Both support prompt caching, which reduces effective cost by 80-90% on repeat system prompts.
Does Codestral 25.08 or GPT-5.4 Mini have the bigger context window?
GPT-5.4 Mini has a 400k-token context window — 2× the 256k context of Codestral 25.08. Enough for long reports and multi-document analysis.
Is there a free tier for Codestral 25.08 or GPT-5.4 Mini?
Codestral 25.08: yes — Free tier for prototyping with rate limits. GPT-5.4 Mini: no — Near-free at $0.75/$4.50 per 1M; starter credits only.
Which is better for coding — Codestral 25.08 or GPT-5.4 Mini?
Codestral 25.08 leads on coding benchmarks (Codestral 25.08: 90/100, GPT-5.4 Mini: 84/100). For production coding agents also weigh tool-use performance — Codestral 25.08 scores 78, GPT-5.4 Mini scores 86.