Fireworks AI vs Mistral: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence
Full comparison of Fireworks AI and Mistral — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Updated July 2026.
Fireworks AI
Production-grade open-source inference with fast cold starts
Fireworks AI provides optimised inference for open-weight models with a focus on production reliability and low latency. They host Llama, DeepSeek R1, and other popular open-source models with competitive per-token pricing and a serverless deployment model that minimises cold-start times.
Mistral
European frontier AI — Mistral Large, Codestral, and open models
Mistral AI is a Paris-based lab that trains both proprietary and open-weight models. Mistral Large competes with GPT-4 class models at lower prices, while Codestral is purpose-built for code generation with a 262K context window. Several Mistral models are open-weight and available for self-hosting.
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Live token pricing
Strengths & weaknesses
Fireworks AI
Mistral
Key differentiators
Production-grade reliability with 320+ tokens/sec throughput and DeepSeek R1 reasoning at $3/1M input — a strong balance of speed and capability.
The only frontier lab offering open-weight models alongside proprietary ones — giving teams the flexibility to self-host or use the API.
Frequently asked questions
Fireworks AI FAQs
What models does Fireworks AI offer?
Fireworks AI hosts Llama 3.3 70B, DeepSeek R1, Mixtral, and other popular open-weight models. They focus on production-ready models with optimised inference rather than the broadest possible catalog.
How much does Fireworks AI cost?
Llama 3.3 70B costs $0.90/1M tokens (input and output). DeepSeek R1 is $3.00/1M input and $8.00/1M output. Pricing is competitive with other inference API providers.
How does Fireworks AI compare to Together AI?
Fireworks AI offers faster throughput (320 vs 190 tokens/sec on Llama 3.3 70B) and stronger production reliability. Together AI has a larger model catalog and fine-tuning support. Choose Fireworks for production speed, Together for model variety.
Mistral FAQs
How much does the Mistral API cost?
Mistral Large costs $2.00/1M input and $6.00/1M output tokens. Mistral Small is $0.10/$0.30 per 1M tokens — one of the cheapest capable models available. Codestral for code generation is priced separately.
Are Mistral models open-weight?
Some are. Mistral 7B, Mixtral 8x7B, and Mixtral 8x22B are open-weight and available on Hugging Face for self-hosting. Mistral Large and Codestral are proprietary and only available via the API.
What is Codestral?
Codestral is Mistral's code-specialised model with a 262K context window. It supports 80+ programming languages and is optimised for code completion, generation, and explanation tasks.
Provider resources
Fireworks AI — Production-grade open-source inference with fast cold starts
Fireworks AI provides optimised inference for open-weight models with a focus on production reliability and low latency. They host Llama, DeepSeek R1, and other popular open-source models with competitive per-token pricing and a serverless deployment model that minimises cold-start times.
Production-grade reliability with 320+ tokens/sec throughput and DeepSeek R1 reasoning at $3/1M input — a strong balance of speed and capability.
Mistral — European frontier AI — Mistral Large, Codestral, and open models
Mistral AI is a Paris-based lab that trains both proprietary and open-weight models. Mistral Large competes with GPT-4 class models at lower prices, while Codestral is purpose-built for code generation with a 262K context window. Several Mistral models are open-weight and available for self-hosting.
The only frontier lab offering open-weight models alongside proprietary ones — giving teams the flexibility to self-host or use the API.
Key strengths compared
Fireworks AI
- ▸320+ tokens/sec on Llama 3.3 70B — fast GPU inference
- ▸DeepSeek R1 hosting with strong reasoning capability
- ▸Production-grade reliability with SLAs
Mistral
- ▸Several open-weight models available for self-hosting
- ▸Codestral purpose-built for code with 262K context
- ▸European data sovereignty — GDPR-native
Provider category context
Fireworks AI is a inference api, founded in 2022. Mistral is a frontier lab, founded in 2023. Fireworks AI as an inference API provider hosts open-weight models — typically offering lower prices for equivalent capability tiers. Mistral as a frontier lab trains and serves proprietary models with capabilities not available elsewhere.
How to choose between them
Choose Fireworks AI if you need 320+ tokens/sec on llama 3.3 70b — fast gpu inference. Choose Mistral if you need several open-weight models available for self-hosting. For high-volume production workloads, run a cost comparison using the token pricing table above with your actual prompt/completion token ratio — the cheapest provider depends heavily on your input-to-output token ratio.