Model Comparison

Codestral-22B vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Codestral-22B vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct — which is better?

Codestral-22B (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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 (Spider), while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct 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 Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct if…

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

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Codestral-22B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (Spider), while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jul 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

457.8B diff

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct has 457.8B more parameters than Codestral-22B, making it 2062.2% larger.

Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
22.2Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
480.0Bparameters
22.2B
Codestral-22B
480.0B
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

License

Usage and distribution terms

Codestral-22B is licensed under MNPL-0.1, while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct 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

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Codestral-22B was released on 2024-05-29, while Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct was released on 2025-01-31.

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is 8 months newer than Codestral-22B.

Codestral-22B

May 29, 2024

2.1 years ago

Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

Jan 31, 2025

1.4 years ago

8mo 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
Higher Spider score (63.5% vs 31.1%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Codestral-22B and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Codestral-22B
✓ Preferred
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Codestral-22B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Codestral-22B vs Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct.

Which is better, Codestral-22B or Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Codestral-22B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Codestral-22B is made by Mistral AI and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Codestral-22B compare to Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct in benchmarks?

Codestral-22B scores HumanEvalFIM-Average: 91.6%, HumanEval: 81.1%, MBPP: 78.2%, Spider: 63.5%, HumanEval-Average: 61.5%. Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct scores TAU-bench Retail: 77.5%, SWE-Bench Verified: 69.6%, BFCL-v3: 68.7%, Aider-Polyglot: 61.8%, TAU-bench Airline: 60.0%.

What are the main differences between Codestral-22B and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (MNPL-0.1 vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Codestral-22B and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct?

Codestral-22B is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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