Mistral’s Devstral 2 and Vibe CLI Square Off Against Claude Code and Codex
Mistral AI just dropped Devstral 2, a beefy new coding model, and Vibe CLI, a natural language tool for automating code tasks. The French startup wants to close the gap on heavyweights like Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex. TechCrunch says this follows Mistral’s Mistral 3 models and targets the “vibe coding” trend—plain English prompts turning into code—that’s boosted tools from Cursor and Supabase.
Devstral 2: Big Power for Business Code
Devstral 2 packs 123 billion parameters and needs at least four H100 GPUs (or equivalent) to run, per Techzine Global. It’s built for production workflows with context awareness, scanning file structures and Git status like Mistral’s Le Chat assistant remembers chats. Devstral Small, at 24 billion parameters, runs on consumer hardware.
- Devstral 2 license: modified MIT
- Devstral Small: Apache 2.0
- API pricing after free period: Devstral 2 at $0.40/$2.00 per million input/output tokens; Small at $0.10/$0.30
BitcoinWorld calls it enterprise-grade, aimed at real dev environments to rival Anthropic.
Vibe CLI Brings Natural Language to the Command Line
Mistral Vibe CLI lets you describe code tasks in English for automation: edit files, search code, handle Git, run commands. It keeps persistent history and builds context from your project. Available as a Zed IDE extension, with partnerships from Kilo Code and Cline for rollout, as noted by Shafaq News.
Blockchain News positions these as open-source alternatives to closed models like Codex, focusing on dev efficiency.
Can It Compete with Claude Code and Codex?
Mistral admits it’s playing catch-up. WinBuzzer positions Devstral 2 and Vibe CLI as cost-efficient, open-weight rivals to proprietary coding giants like Claude Code and Codex. Techzine points to Claude Code’s popularity among coders, while TechCrunch highlights the vibe-coding race where Cursor hit $100M ARR and Supabase $2B valuation. Devstral 2 emphasizes business context to pull users from bigger labs. Backed by a €11.7 billion valuation after ASML’s €1.3 billion Series C investment, Mistral has cash to fight.
