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Mistral AI vs Cohere
Both sell to enterprises that want control over where models run. Cohere leads on retrieval and private fine-tuning; Mistral on published prices and coding.
By The Subconscious Team · Updated
Mistral AI vs Cohere: key differences
Cohere's Command A lists at $2.50 in and $10 out with 256K context, while Command A+, a 218B mixture-of-experts model under Apache 2.0, carries 128K and has no published per-token price. Mistral publishes its whole sheet: Medium 3.5 at $1.50 in and $7.50 out, Large 3 at $0.50 in and $1.50 out, Small 4 at $0.15 in and $0.60 out, all at 256K. For coding, Mistral has Medium 3.5, which scores 77.6% on SWE-Bench Verified by Mistral's count, and Codestral for completion. Command A+ trails the latest DeepSeek, GLM and MiniMax models on agentic coding, though Cohere added North Mini Code, a 30B coding model, in June 2026.
Retrieval is Cohere's clearest win. Embed 4 handles text, images and PDFs with 128K context, and Rerank 4 prices per search of up to 100 documents. Private VPC and on-prem deployment, including fine-tuning inside that environment, are core products, and Model Vault offers dedicated instances from $4 an hour. Mistral's custom training runs through Forge, its enterprise system, after it deprecated self-serve fine-tuning. Both reach Bedrock and Azure; Cohere adds SageMaker and Oracle OCI, Mistral adds Vertex AI, Snowflake Cortex, watsonx and EU or US regional endpoints. Cohere claims 375 tokens per second on a 4-bit Command A+, and it agreed in 2026 to combine with Germany's Aleph Alpha.
What Mistral AI and Cohere do
Mistral AI
Mistral AI is a Paris lab that sells its models through La Plateforme, its own API, and releases most of them as open weights. It consolidated the lineup in 2026. Mistral Medium 3.5, released April 28, is a dense 128B model that merges instruction following, reasoning and coding into one set of weights, and it replaced both Devstral 2 and the Magistral reasoning models. It costs $1.50 in and $7.50 out per million tokens and scores 77.6% on SWE-Bench Verified by Mistral's count. Mistral Small 4, a 119B mixture-of-experts model with 6.5B active, costs $0.15 in and $0.60 out. Mistral Large 3, a 675B MoE under Apache 2.0, runs $0.50 in and $1.50 out. All three carry a 256K context window.
Example models: Mistral Medium 3.5, Mistral Small 4
Full Mistral AI profileCohere
Cohere is a Toronto-based lab that sells models and platforms to banks, governments and large enterprises rather than consumers. Its generative line is the Command family. Command A+, released May 20, 2026, is a 218B-parameter mixture-of-experts model with 25B active, published under Apache 2.0 with a 128K context window, and it combines reasoning, vision, translation and tool use in one set of weights. Command A has a 256K window and lists at $2.50 in and $10 out per million tokens, while Command R7B costs $0.0375 in. June 2026 added North Mini Code, a 30B Apache 2.0 coding model, and the lineup also includes Aya multilingual models and Transcribe for speech.
Example models: Command A+, Command A, Embed 4, Rerank 4
Full Cohere profileShould you choose Mistral AI or Cohere?
Mistral AI
Choose Mistral AI for
- Coding agents on Medium 3.5
- Self-serve pricing without a sales call
- Processing in EU or US regions
Cohere
Choose Cohere for
- RAG with Embed 4 and Rerank 4
- Fine-tuning inside a private VPC or on-prem
- Multilingual assistants and translation
Mistral AI vs Cohere at a glance
| Attribute | Mistral AI | Cohere |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights, plus closed Codestral | Closed, plus open Command A+ |
| Flagship models | Mistral Medium 3.5, Small 4, Large 3 | Command A+, Command A, Embed 4, Rerank 4 |
| Speed | Unknown | 375 tok/s on Command A+ W4A4, per Cohere |
| Price | $0.15–$1.50 in, $0.60–$7.50 out per 1M | $0.0375–$2.50 in, $0.15–$10 out per 1M |
| Customization | Forge (enterprise); fine-tuning API deprecated | Enterprise fine-tuning, incl. private |
| Deployment | API, Azure, Bedrock, Vertex, self-host | API, Bedrock, Azure, OCI, VPC, on-prem |
| Long context | 256K | 256K on Command A; 128K on A+ |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Mistral AI and Cohere?
Both sell to enterprises that want control over where models run. Cohere leads on retrieval and private fine-tuning; Mistral on published prices and coding.
When should I choose Mistral AI over Cohere?
Coding agents on Medium 3.5; Self-serve pricing without a sales call; Processing in EU or US regions.
When should I choose Cohere over Mistral AI?
RAG with Embed 4 and Rerank 4; Fine-tuning inside a private VPC or on-prem; Multilingual assistants and translation.
Is Mistral AI or Cohere cheaper?
Mistral AI: $0.15–$1.50 in, $0.60–$7.50 out per 1M. Cohere: $0.0375–$2.50 in, $0.15–$10 out per 1M. The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.
Which has more context, Mistral AI or Cohere?
Mistral AI: 256K. Cohere: 256K on Command A; 128K on A+.
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