Model Comparison

Codestral-22B vs Claude 3 OpusWhich is better in 2026?

Claude 3 Opus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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

Codestral-22B (by Mistral AI) and Claude 3 Opus (by Anthropic) 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.

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

Choose Codestral-22B if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2024
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Claude 3 Opus if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

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

Claude 3 Opus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Jun 15 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

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

Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Mon Jun 15 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

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

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

Codestral-22B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Claude 3 Opus

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

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

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

Codestral-22B

MNPL-0.1

Open weights

Claude 3 Opus

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

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

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

Codestral-22B

May 29, 2024

2.0 years ago

3mo newer
Claude 3 Opus

Feb 29, 2024

2.3 years ago

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

Mistral AI
Has open weights
Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher HumanEval score (84.9% vs 81.1%)

Detailed Comparison

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

FAQ

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

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

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

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

Codestral-22B scores HumanEvalFIM-Average: 91.6%, HumanEval: 81.1%, MBPP: 78.2%, Spider: 63.5%, HumanEval-Average: 61.5%. Claude 3 Opus scores ARC-C: 96.4%, HellaSwag: 95.4%, GSM8k: 95.0%, MGSM: 90.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 86.8%.

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

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

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

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

Who makes Codestral-22B and Claude 3 Opus?

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

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