AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

Mistral Large 4 Open vs Claude Fable 5 (batch) Paid

Mistral Large 4 vs Claude Fable 5 (batch) compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Can the open-source model replace the paid one? Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

Mistral Large 4OpenMistral AI
$0.68 /M input
$2.09 /M outputNo per-token fees if you self-host
TypeOpen-weight
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostYes
Claude Fable 5 (batch)PaidAnthropic
$5 /M input
$25 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostNo
Choose Mistral Large 4 if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Claude Fable 5 (batch) if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

Mistral Large 4 vs Claude Fable 5 (batch) specs

SpecMistral Large 4Claude Fable 5 (batch)Winner
MakerMistral AIAnthropic–
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryMistral Large 4
Context window1M tokens1M tokensMistral Large 4
Input price$0.68/M · free self-host$5/MMistral Large 4
Output price$2.09/M · free self-host$25/MMistral Large 4
Vision / multimodalYesYes= Tie
Tool / function callingYesYes= Tie
Self-hostableYesNo (API only)Mistral Large 4
LicenseApache 2.0ProprietaryMistral Large 4

Price gap & when to choose each

12×cheaper per output token

Mistral Large 4 is ~12× cheaper than Claude Fable 5 (batch) on output tokens ($2.09 vs $25 per M tokens).

Choose Mistral Large 4 if…
  • You want to self-host or run on your cloud
  • You need the longer 1M context window
  • You prioritize data privacy & control
  • You want the lowest operating costs
  • You are building open or reproducible AI
Choose Claude Fable 5 (batch) if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilityMistral Large 4Claude Fable 5 (batch)
Open weights (downloadable)✓✗
Self-hostable✓✗
Runs fully offline✓✗
Vision / multimodal✓✓
Tool / function calling✓✓
1M+ context window✓✓

Benchmarks: Mistral Large 4 vs Claude Fable 5 (batch)

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

Mistral Large 4 delivers 7.4× more intelligence per dollar.
Mistral Large 4
Claude Fable 5 (batch)
Intelligence index
38.4
49.6
Humanity's Last Exam
35%
55.5%
Long Context Reasoning
81.3%
82.3%
SciCode
54.2%
61%
Coding index
–
76.5
GPQA
–
92.6%
IFBench
–
63.5%
τ²-Bench
–
98.5%
τ-Bench Banking
–
38.1%
Terminal-Bench
–
84.6%
Terminal-Bench Hard
–
62.9%
Speed
106.1 tok/s
0 tok/s
Latency
0.97s
0s
Intelligence per $
18.6
2.5

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Mistral Large 4 and Claude Fable 5 (batch) score

🏆 Best value & openness: Mistral Large 4 (4.9 vs 3.1 / 5)
CriterionMistral Large 4Claude Fable 5 (batch)
Cost-efficiency4.53.0
Context window5.05.0
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality5.05.0

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

Mistral Large 4 Open

Mistral AI · Open-weight

Mistral Large 4 is a frontier multimodal (text and image input) model from Mistral AI built for reasoning, coding, and agentic workloads. It offers a 1M-token context window with up...

Claude Fable 5 (batch) Paid

Anthropic · Proprietary

Claude Fable 5 is a Mythos-class model from Anthropic, built for autonomous knowledge work and coding. It supports text, image, and file inputs with text output, with reasoning support and...

Other models in these families

These variants are tracked but not compared here — one page per family keeps the comparison readable.

Other variants tracked
Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral Medium 3.5 (batch)Mistral Small 4Mistral Small 4 (batch)Mistral Large 3 2512Mistral Large 3 2512 (batch)Mistral Medium 3.1Mistral Medium 3.1 (batch)Mistral Medium 3Devstral 2 2512Mistral Small 3.2 24BMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral LargeMistral Large 2407Mistral Small 3SabaMinistral 3 14B 2512Mixtral 8x22B InstructMinistral 3 8B 2512Ministral 3 8B 2512 (batch)Ministral 3 3B 2512UncensoredCodestral 2508Codestral 2508 (batch)Voxtral Small 24B 2507Mistral Nemo

Frequently asked questions

Is Mistral Large 4 as good as Claude Fable 5 (batch)?

Mistral Large 4 is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but Claude Fable 5 (batch) may still lead on the hardest reasoning and agentic work. The gap keeps narrowing — benchmark both on your actual use case before deciding.

Can I run Mistral Large 4 locally?

Yes. Mistral Large 4 has open weights, so you can self-host it on your own GPUs or run it via a low-cost API. Claude Fable 5 (batch) is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

How much cheaper is Mistral Large 4?

Mistral Large 4 costs $2.09/M output vs $25/M for Claude Fable 5 (batch) — roughly 12x cheaper via API, and free if you self-host.

Mistral Large 4 vs Claude Fable 5 (batch) — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Mistral Large 4 if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Claude Fable 5 (batch) if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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