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Codestral-22B vs Grok-2 mini

Codestral-22B and Grok-2 mini are closely matched at 0.0 and 8.6 on the LLM Stats Score.

Mistral AI · xAI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Codestral-22B and Grok-2 mini are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 0.0 and 8.6.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Grok-2 mini wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Codestral-22B

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Grok-2 mini

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Codestral-22B
Mistral AI
Grok-2 mini
xAI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
0.0
#326
8.6
#277
Reasoning
-0.1
#318
8.2
#274
Coding
2.5
#225
5.9
#194
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—

Individual benchmarks

7 reported for Codestral-22B · 8 for Grok-2 mini

1 shared

Codestral-22B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-2 mini is better at 1 benchmark (HumanEval).

Grok-2 mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Sep 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Grok-2 mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Codestral-22B does not.

Grok-2 mini can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Codestral-22B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok-2 mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Codestral-22B is licensed under MNPL-0.1, while Grok-2 mini 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

Grok-2 mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Codestral-22B was released on 2024-05-29, while Grok-2 mini was released on 2024-08-13.

Grok-2 mini is 3 months newer than Codestral-22B.

Codestral-22B

May 29, 2024

2.3 years ago

Grok-2 mini

Aug 13, 2024

2.1 years ago

2mo 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→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Codestral-22B and Grok-2 mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Codestral-22B
✓ Preferred
Grok-2 mini
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Codestral-22B vs Grok-2 mini.

Which is better, Codestral-22B or Grok-2 mini?

Codestral-22B and Grok-2 mini are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 0.0 and 8.6. Codestral-22B is made by Mistral AI and Grok-2 mini is made by xAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Codestral-22B compare to Grok-2 mini in benchmarks?

Codestral-22B scores HumanEvalFIM-Average: 91.6%, HumanEval: 81.1%, MBPP: 78.2%, Spider: 63.5%, HumanEval-Average: 61.5%. Grok-2 mini scores DocVQA: 93.2%, MMLU: 86.2%, HumanEval: 85.7%, MATH: 73.0%, MMLU-Pro: 72.0%.

What are the main differences between Codestral-22B and Grok-2 mini?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (0.0 vs 8.6), 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 Grok-2 mini?

Codestral-22B is developed by Mistral AI and Grok-2 mini is developed by xAI.

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