Codestral vs Pixtral 12B

Compare Codestral and Pixtral 12B: pricing, performance, context window, latency, and best use cases. Side-by-side comparison on XALEN.

Updated 2026-05-21 · By Abhishek Raj · Our methodology

All Mistral models All Mistral models What is an LLM API? Python Quickstart What is inference?
Feature Codestral Pixtral 12B
CategoryCodeVision
Parameters22B12B
Context Window256K128K
Input Price$0.03/1M tokens$0.02/1M tokens
Output Price$0.05/1M tokens$0.04/1M tokens
Latency~200ms~200ms

Choose Codestral when:

  • ✓ API integration code
  • ✓ SDK generation
  • ✓ Code review
Key Strengths:

256K context for code, Strong code generation, Good APIs

Choose Pixtral 12B when:

  • ✓ Simple image tasks
  • ✓ Classification
  • ✓ OCR
Key Strengths:

Low cost vision, Fast, Compact

Verdict: Codestral vs Pixtral 12B

For cost efficiency, Pixtral 12B wins at $0.02/1M input tokens. For speed, Pixtral 12B is faster at ~200ms. Codestral excels at API integration code while Pixtral 12B is better for Simple image tasks. Both are available on XALEN through a single API — try them in the Playground to see which fits your workload.

Detailed Analysis

Pricing Comparison

Codestral costs $0.03/1M input tokens and $0.05/1M output tokens. Pixtral 12B costs $0.02 input and $0.04 output. Pixtral 12B is 1.5x cheaper on input tokens. XALEN offers batch processing at 50% discount on both models.

Performance & Context

Codestral has a 256K context window with ~200ms latency. Pixtral 12B offers 128K context at ~200ms. Codestral has the larger context window.

Best For

Codestral (Code) is optimized for: API integration code, SDK generation, Code review. Pixtral 12B (Vision) works best for: Simple image tasks, Classification, OCR.

Try Both on XALEN

Both models are available through XALEN's OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between them by changing the model parameter:

from xalen import XALEN

client = XALEN(api_key="xln_test_YOUR_KEY")

# Use Codestral
response_a = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="codestral",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

# Use Pixtral 12B
response_b = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="pixtral-12b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

Start Building with XALEN

200+ AI models. One API. Pay-as-you-go.

Get API Key Try in Playground

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Codestral or Pixtral 12B?

Codestral (Code, 22B) offers 256K context for code. Pixtral 12B (Vision, 12B) offers Low cost vision. Choose Codestral for API integration code or Pixtral 12B for Simple image tasks.

How much does Codestral cost vs Pixtral 12B?

Codestral: $0.03/1M input, $0.05/1M output. Pixtral 12B: $0.02/1M input, $0.04/1M output. Both available on XALEN with batch processing at 50% discount.

Can I use both models on XALEN?

Yes. XALEN provides 200+ models through a single OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between Codestral and Pixtral 12B by changing the model parameter. No code changes needed.

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Last updated: 2026-05-21. Pricing and specifications may change. Check pricing page for latest rates.