Model Comparison
Grok-2 vs Magistral MediumWhich is better in 2026?
Magistral Medium significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: Grok-2 vs Magistral Medium — which is better?
Grok-2 (by xAI) and Magistral Medium (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.
Grok-2 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Magistral Medium is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Magistral Medium significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose Grok-2 if…
- you want predictable pricing at $2.00/M input and $10.00/M output
Choose Magistral Medium if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Grok-2 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Magistral Medium is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Magistral Medium significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Grok-2 specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Grok-2 specifies output context (8,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Grok-2 and Magistral Medium support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Grok-2
Magistral Medium
License
Usage and distribution terms
Grok-2 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Magistral Medium uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Grok-2 was released on 2024-08-13, while Magistral Medium was released on 2025-06-10.
Magistral Medium is 10 months newer than Grok-2.
Aug 13, 2024
2.0 years ago
Jun 10, 2025
1.1 years ago
10mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Magistral Medium has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-06-01, while Grok-2's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Magistral Medium's training data extends to 2025-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Grok-2's cutoff date.
—
Jun 2025
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Magistral Medium
View detailsMistral AI
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Grok-2 and Magistral Medium side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Grok-2 vs Magistral Medium.