Model Comparison

Codestral-22B vs Mistral Small 3 24B BaseWhich is better in 2026?

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Codestral-22B vs Mistral Small 3 24B Base — which is better?

Codestral-22B (by Mistral AI) and Mistral Small 3 24B Base (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.

Codestral-22B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MBPP), while Mistral Small 3 24B Base is better at 0 benchmarks. Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Codestral-22B if…

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

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Base if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Codestral-22B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MBPP), while Mistral Small 3 24B Base is better at 0 benchmarks.

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

1.4B diff

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has 1.4B more parameters than Codestral-22B, making it 6.3% larger.

Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
22.2Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
23.6Bparameters
22.2B
Codestral-22B
23.6B
Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Mistral Small 3 24B Base supports multimodal inputs, whereas Codestral-22B does not.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Codestral-22B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Codestral-22B is licensed under MNPL-0.1, while Mistral Small 3 24B Base uses Apache 2.0.

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

Codestral-22B

MNPL-0.1

Open weights

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Codestral-22B was released on 2024-05-29, while Mistral Small 3 24B Base was released on 2025-01-30.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base is 8 months newer than Codestral-22B.

Codestral-22B

May 29, 2024

2.0 years ago

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Jan 30, 2025

1.4 years ago

8mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Codestral-22B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Base's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Codestral-22B's cutoff date.

Codestral-22B

—

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Oct 2023

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Higher MBPP score (78.2% vs 69.6%)
Mistral AI
Supports multimodal inputs

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base

FAQ

Common questions about Codestral-22B vs Mistral Small 3 24B Base.

Which is better, Codestral-22B or Mistral Small 3 24B Base?

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Codestral-22B is made by Mistral AI and Mistral Small 3 24B Base is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Codestral-22B compare to Mistral Small 3 24B Base in benchmarks?

Codestral-22B scores HumanEvalFIM-Average: 91.6%, HumanEval: 81.1%, MBPP: 78.2%, Spider: 63.5%, HumanEval-Average: 61.5%. Mistral Small 3 24B Base scores ARC-C: 91.3%, GSM8k: 80.7%, MMLU: 80.7%, TriviaQA: 80.3%, MBPP: 69.6%.

What are the main differences between Codestral-22B and Mistral Small 3 24B Base?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MNPL-0.1 vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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