Model Comparison

Codestral-22B vs Grok 4 FastWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Codestral-22B and Grok 4 Fast across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Codestral-22B vs Grok 4 Fast — which is better?

Codestral-22B (by Mistral AI) and Grok 4 Fast (by xAI) 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.

Choose Codestral-22B if…

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

Choose Grok 4 Fast if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Codestral-22B and Grok 4 Fastdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok 4 Fast specifies input context (2,000,000 tokens). Only Grok 4 Fast specifies output context (30,000 tokens).

Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
xAI
Grok 4 Fast
Input2,000,000 tokens
Output30,000 tokens
Mon Jul 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok 4 Fast supports multimodal inputs, whereas Codestral-22B does not.

Grok 4 Fast can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Codestral-22B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok 4 Fast

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Codestral-22B is licensed under MNPL-0.1, while Grok 4 Fast 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 4 Fast

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Codestral-22B was released on 2024-05-29, while Grok 4 Fast was released on 2025-08-28.

Grok 4 Fast is 15 months newer than Codestral-22B.

Codestral-22B

May 29, 2024

2.2 years ago

Grok 4 Fast

Aug 28, 2025

11 months ago

1.2yr 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

Mistral AI
Has open weights
xAI
Larger context window (2,000,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Codestral-22B and Grok 4 Fast side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Codestral-22B
✓ Preferred
Grok 4 Fast
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
xAI
Grok 4 Fast

FAQ

Common questions about Codestral-22B vs Grok 4 Fast.

Which is better, Codestral-22B or Grok 4 Fast?

Codestral-22B (Mistral AI) and Grok 4 Fast (xAI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Codestral-22B compare to Grok 4 Fast in benchmarks?

Codestral-22B scores HumanEvalFIM-Average: 91.6%, HumanEval: 81.1%, MBPP: 78.2%, Spider: 63.5%, HumanEval-Average: 61.5%. Grok 4 Fast scores SimpleQA: 95.0%, HMMT 2025: 93.3%, AIME 2025: 92.0%, GPQA: 85.7%, LiveCodeBench: 80.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Codestral-22B and Grok 4 Fast?

Codestral-22B supports an unknown number of tokens and Grok 4 Fast supports 2.0M 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 Grok 4 Fast?

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 Grok 4 Fast?

Codestral-22B is developed by Mistral AI and Grok 4 Fast is developed by xAI.

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