ModelRefs / DeepSeek R1 vs Mistral Large 2
DeepSeek R1 vs Mistral Large 2
DeepSeek R1 vs Mistral Large 2: side-by-side benchmarks, pricing, context windows, coding ability and deployment. Pick the right model for your stack.
Overview
DeepSeek R1: DeepSeek R1 is DeepSeek's open-source reasoning model, trained with reinforcement learning to produce chain-of-thought reasoning before answering. Released in January 2025 under the MIT license, it matched or exceeded closed reasoning models on several math and coding benchmarks.
Mistral Large 2: Mistral Large 2 is Mistral AI's 2024 flagship commercial model with a 128,000-token context window, built for instruction following, multilingual tasks and function calling in agentic workflows. Both releases are now retired on Mistral's own API: mistral-large-2407 on 30 March 2025, replaced by Mistral Large 3, and mistral-large-2411 on 31 May 2026, replaced by Mistral Medium 3.5.
Context window: DeepSeek R1 accepts up to 128,000 tokens, Mistral Large 2 up to 128,000. Confirm the limit for your specific deployment channel before relying on it.
DeepSeek R1 vs Mistral Large 2 at a glance
| Attribute | DeepSeek R1 | Mistral Large 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | Mistral AI |
| Released | 2025-01-20 | 2024-11-01 |
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Input price | $0.55/M tokens | $2/M tokens |
| Output price | $2.19/M tokens | $6/M tokens |
| Licence | MIT | Mistral Commercial |
| Self-hostable | Yes, open weights | No, hosted only |
| Modalities | text | text |
Where they differ most
- Cost Efficiency: DeepSeek R1 75%, Mistral Large 2 56%. DeepSeek R1 leads on this dimension.
- Reasoning: DeepSeek R1 75%, Mistral Large 2 86%. Mistral Large 2 leads on this dimension.
Capability scores are ModelRefs' own derived signals, not vendor claims or benchmark results. Validate against your own workload before relying on them.
Continue your research
Use these connected ModelRefs sections to compare alternatives, inspect implementation paths, and review the evidence and governance boundaries relevant to DeepSeek R1 vs Mistral Large 2.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, DeepSeek R1 or Mistral Large 2?
DeepSeek R1 and Mistral Large 2 target different workloads — see the benchmark and pricing tables for a side-by-side answer.
Is DeepSeek R1 cheaper than Mistral Large 2?
Compare $0.00055 vs $0.00200 on this page.