Model Comparison

Claude 3 Sonnet vs Codestral-22BWhich is better in 2026?

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Claude 3 Sonnet vs Codestral-22B — which is better?

Claude 3 Sonnet (by Anthropic) and Codestral-22B (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Claude 3 Sonnet outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Codestral-22B is better at 1 benchmark (HumanEval). Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Claude 3 Sonnet if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output

Choose Codestral-22B if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2024
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Claude 3 Sonnet outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Codestral-22B is better at 1 benchmark (HumanEval).

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jun 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Claude 3 Sonnet specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude 3 Sonnet specifies output context (200,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude 3 Sonnet
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Jun 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude 3 Sonnet supports multimodal inputs, whereas Codestral-22B does not.

Claude 3 Sonnet can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude 3 Sonnet

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Codestral-22B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude 3 Sonnet is licensed under a proprietary license, while Codestral-22B uses MNPL-0.1.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude 3 Sonnet

Proprietary

Closed source

Codestral-22B

MNPL-0.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3 Sonnet was released on 2024-02-29, while Codestral-22B was released on 2024-05-29.

Codestral-22B is 3 months newer than Claude 3 Sonnet.

Claude 3 Sonnet

Feb 29, 2024

2.3 years ago

Codestral-22B

May 29, 2024

2.0 years ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Mistral AI
Has open weights
Higher HumanEval score (81.1% vs 73.0%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3 Sonnet
Mistral AI
Codestral-22B

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3 Sonnet vs Codestral-22B.

Which is better, Claude 3 Sonnet or Codestral-22B?

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude 3 Sonnet is made by Anthropic and Codestral-22B is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude 3 Sonnet compare to Codestral-22B in benchmarks?

Claude 3 Sonnet scores ARC-C: 93.2%, GSM8k: 92.3%, HellaSwag: 89.0%, MGSM: 83.5%, BIG-Bench Hard: 82.9%. Codestral-22B scores HumanEvalFIM-Average: 91.6%, HumanEval: 81.1%, MBPP: 78.2%, Spider: 63.5%, HumanEval-Average: 61.5%.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3 Sonnet and Codestral-22B?

Claude 3 Sonnet supports 200K tokens and Codestral-22B supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude 3 Sonnet and Codestral-22B?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MNPL-0.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3 Sonnet and Codestral-22B?

Claude 3 Sonnet is developed by Anthropic and Codestral-22B is developed by Mistral AI.

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