Codestral 25.08 vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Codestral 25.08 and GPT-5.6 Terra are both current production-tier models. Codestral 25.08 is meaningfully cheaper at $0.30 / $0.90 per 1M. GPT-5.6 Terra has a 1.1M context window — about 4× the 256k of Codestral 25.08. GPT-5.6 Terra leads on reasoning, general knowledge, long-context retrieval.
Specs side by side
| Metric | Mistral AI Codestral 25.08 | OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra |
|---|---|---|
| Input price (per 1M) | $0.3 | $2.5 |
| Output price (per 1M) | $0.9 | $15 |
| Context window | 256k tokens | 1.1M tokens |
| Speed tier | fast | balanced |
| 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 $2.5 / $15 per 1M)
- You need open weights for self-hosting or fine-tuning
- You want a free tier for prototyping
Choose GPT-5.6 Terra if…
- You need 1.1M context (4× more than Codestral 25.08)
- 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
Codestral 25.08 has no meaningful benchmark lead in this pair.
GPT-5.6 Terra leads on
- Reasoning
- General knowledge
- Long-context retrieval
- Instruction following
- Multilingual
- Tool use
FAQ — Codestral 25.08 vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Codestral 25.08 vs GPT-5.6 Terra — which is better?
Codestral 25.08 and GPT-5.6 Terra are both current production-tier models. Codestral 25.08 is meaningfully cheaper at $0.30 / $0.90 per 1M. GPT-5.6 Terra has a 1.1M context window — about 4× the 256k of Codestral 25.08. GPT-5.6 Terra 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-5.6 Terra?
Codestral 25.08 costs $0.30 / $0.90 per 1M vs GPT-5.6 Terra at $2.5 / $15 per 1M. Codestral 25.08 is cheaper on output tokens by roughly 1567%. Both support prompt caching, which reduces effective cost by 80-90% on repeat system prompts.
Does Codestral 25.08 or GPT-5.6 Terra have the bigger context window?
GPT-5.6 Terra has a 1.1M-token context window — 4× the 256k context of Codestral 25.08. Enough for entire codebases, books, or multi-document RAG.
Is there a free tier for Codestral 25.08 or GPT-5.6 Terra?
Codestral 25.08: yes — Free tier for prototyping with rate limits. GPT-5.6 Terra: no — Free $5 credit for new accounts; paid thereafter.
Which is better for coding — Codestral 25.08 or GPT-5.6 Terra?
GPT-5.6 Terra leads on coding benchmarks (Codestral 25.08: 90/100, GPT-5.6 Terra: 93/100). For production coding agents also weigh tool-use performance — Codestral 25.08 scores 78, GPT-5.6 Terra scores 93.