Mistral AI, a Paris-based startup valued at $6 billion, has launched a free tier to attract developers. The move comes as advanced large language models (LLMs) are becoming increasingly commoditized, and Mistral is aiming to compete with plummeting prices from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
The new free tier is available through Mistral's API-serving platform, la Plateforme. Developers can experiment, evaluate, and prototype with Mistral's AI models without any cost. However, developers may need to upgrade to Mistral's paid commercial tier for production use.
Google and OpenAI also offer free tiers for developers, but these typically have lower rate limits than their paid tiers. Mistral's move is a direct response to this growing competition in the AI model provider space.
Mistral has also slashed prices for accessing its AI models through API endpoints. Mistral NeMo, Mistral Small, and Codestral prices have been reduced by over 50%, while Mistral Large's price has been cut by 33%.
Mistral's first multimodal model, Pixtral 12B, is now available on le Chat. This model can process both images and text, allowing users to scan, analyze, and search image files.
Mistral is clearly focused on attracting developers by offering a free tier, lowering prices, and developing innovative AI models. This strategy aims to position the company as a leading player in the competitive AI model market, competing directly with companies like Google and OpenAI.
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