R1 vs Devstral 2 2512

Across our 12-test suite the two models split wins 4–4 with 4 ties. Details (scores from our testing):

• R1 wins: strategic_analysis 5 vs 4 (R1 tied for 1st of 54 — better at nuanced tradeoff reasoning), creative_problem_solving 5 vs 4 (R1 tied for 1st), faithfulness 5 vs 4 (R1 tied for 1st — sticks to source material), persona_consistency 5 vs 4 (R1 tied for 1st). These results indicate R1 is stronger for reliable summarization, high-stakes reasoning, and maintaining a consistent voice.
• Devstral 2 2512 wins: structured_output 5 vs 4 (Devstral tied for 1st of 54 — better JSON/schema compliance), constrained_rewriting 5 vs 4 (Devstral tied for 1st — better at tight character limits), classification 3 vs 2 (Devstral rank 31 vs R1 rank 51 of 53), long_context 5 vs 4 (Devstral tied for 1st of 55 — better retrieval and accuracy past 30K tokens). These wins point to Devstral being superior for schema-constrained tasks, long-document codebases, and routing/classification workflows.
• Ties: tool_calling 4/4 (both capable at function selection/sequencing; each ranks 18 of 54), safety_calibration 1/1 (both refuse/permit similarly), agentic_planning 4/4 (equal decomposition and recovery), multilingual 5/5 (tied for 1st). Supplementary external math benchmarks for R1: MATH Level 5 93.1% and AIME 2025 53.3% (Epoch AI) — Devstral has no corresponding external math scores in the payload. Overall, expect Devstral for long-context and strict-format tasks; expect R1 for high-fidelity reasoning and creative/problem-solving outputs.

Raw rates: R1 input $0.7 / mTok and output $2.5 / mTok; Devstral 2 2512 input $0.4 / mTok and output $2.0 / mTok. Translating to common monthly volumes (1 mTok = 1,000 tokens):

• Per 1M tokens (all output): R1 = $2,500; Devstral = $2,000 (difference $500).
• Per 1M tokens (all input): R1 = $700; Devstral = $400 (difference $300).
• Per 1M tokens (50/50 input/output split): R1 = $1,600; Devstral = $1,200 (difference $400). Scale these linearly: at 10M tokens/month (50/50) R1 ≈ $16,000 vs Devstral ≈ $12,000; at 100M tokens/month R1 ≈ $160,000 vs Devstral ≈ $120,000. The absolute gap is $400 per 1M mixed tokens (or $50k per 100M if all tokens are output-focused). High-volume API customers, multi-tenant SaaS, or deployments with heavy generation should care most about this gap; small-scale or experimental users will find the functional differences more important than the cost delta.

Choose R1 if: you prioritize faithfulness, strategic analysis, creative problem solving, or persona consistency (R1 scores 5 on those tests) and you accept ~25–33% higher cost at typical input/output mixes. Ideal for high-stakes summarization, policy-compliant outputs, and ideation. Choose Devstral 2 2512 if: you need top-tier long-context handling (score 5, tied for 1st), strict structured outputs/JSON/schema compliance (score 5, tied for 1st), constrained rewriting, or better classification; also suits cost-sensitive, high-volume deployments (lower input/output rates).