GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Mistral Large 2
Mistral Large 2 leads the LLM Stats Score 7.5 to -9.3. GPT-3.5 Turbo is 4.0x cheaper per token.
OpenAI · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Mistral Large 2 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 7.5 to -9.3, ranking #286 overall.
In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Mistral Large 2 wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, GPT-3.5 Turbo is roughly 4.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Mistral Large 2 also accepts a larger context window (128,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo
- cost matters — it's about 4.0x cheaper per token
Choose Mistral Large 2
- overall performance matters — it scores 7.5 and ranks #286 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
- you process long inputs — it offers a 128,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2024
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
8 reported for GPT-3.5 Turbo · 5 for Mistral Large 2
GPT-3.5 Turbo outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Mistral Large 2 is better at 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MMLU).
Mistral Large 2 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, GPT-3.5 Turbo ($0.50/1M tokens) is 4.0x cheaper than Mistral Large 2 ($2.00/1M tokens).
For output processing, GPT-3.5 Turbo ($1.50/1M tokens) is 4.0x cheaper than Mistral Large 2 ($6.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mistral Large 2 is more expensive than GPT-3.5 Turbo.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Mistral Large 2 accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo's 16,385 tokens. Mistral Large 2 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while GPT-3.5 Turbo is limited to 4,096 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
GPT-3.5 Turbo is licensed under a proprietary license, while Mistral Large 2 uses Mistral Research License.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Mistral Research License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
GPT-3.5 Turbo was released on 2023-03-21, while Mistral Large 2 was released on 2024-07-24.
Mistral Large 2 is 16 months newer than GPT-3.5 Turbo.
Mar 21, 2023
3.5 years ago
Jul 24, 2024
2.1 years ago
1.3yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-3.5 Turbo has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2021-09-30, while Mistral Large 2's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm GPT-3.5 Turbo's training data extends to 2021-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral Large 2's cutoff date.
Sep 2021
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Provider Availability
GPT-3.5 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI. Mistral Large 2 is available from Google, Mistral AI.
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Mistral Large 2
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against GPT-3.5 Turbo and Mistral Large 2 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Mistral Large 2.