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The best European open-source LLMs in 2026

The best European open-source LLMs right now are Ministral 3 (3B, 8B and 14B), Flint and Mistral Medium 3.5, out of 6 we have reviewed. Each is ranked by our rating, with its price, our verdict and who it suits.

By Andrew Miller · Updated Oct 26, 2026 · How we review

How we ranked: by our rating out of 5, from reviews built on each product's own pricing, documentation and policies plus independent benchmarks where they exist, each checked on the date shown in the review. We take no affiliate commission. Models whose maker has retired the hosted API stay listed for their open weights and are marked.

Also ranked: the best open-source LLMs

  1. 1

    Ministral 3 (3B, 8B and 14B)

    Licence and data: Apache 2.0 with no usage restrictions when self-hosted. On Mistral's API, free-tier inputs and outputs may be used for training unless you opt out; pay-as-you-go users can opt out.

    Running it: $0.10 to $0.20 per million tokens on Mistral's API, with batch at half price. Self-hosted, the 14B in FP8 needs one 24 GB GPU; the 3B runs on phones and Jetson boards.

    Price: Open weights under Apache 2.0. Mistral API: 14B $0.20, 8B $0.15, 3B $0.10 per 1M tokens, the same for input and output; batch half price.

    Read our Ministral 3 (3B, 8B and 14B) review
    4.1/5
  2. 2

    Flint

    Licence and data: Run locally, nothing leaves the machine. The OpenRouter endpoint is served by Recursive; the card says hosted terms and data practices are separate from the weight licence, and we found no published retention terms.

    Running it: Weights free. Locally, a Mac or GPU with 48 GB of memory for the 4-bit builds; on servers, one H200 or B300 per BF16 replica (about 80 GB). Hosted: free and rate-limited on OpenRouter; no paid per-token price published.

    Price: Free open weights under Apache 2.0; free, rate-limited endpoint on OpenRouter. Paid Flint API for select partners, price not published.

    Read our Flint review
    3.9/5
  3. 3

    Mistral Medium 3.5

    Licence and data: Modified MIT: usable only if your company's monthly revenue is under $20 million. On Mistral Studio, free-mode inputs and outputs may be used for training, pay-as-you-go customers can opt out, and Vibe trains by default except on Enterprise.

    Running it: 1B input and 100M output tokens a month is about $2,250 at list, or about $1,125 with the 50% batch discount; the same load on Large 4 is about $1,778. Self-hosting means about 134 GB of mostly FP8 weights, so four 80 GB GPUs as a floor.

    Price: Open weights under a modified MIT licence (no rights for companies above $20M monthly revenue). API: $1.50 per 1M input tokens, $7.50 per 1M output; batch 50% off.

    Read our Mistral Medium 3.5 review
    3.8/5
  4. 4

    Mistral Small 4

    Licence and data: Apache 2.0 allows commercial use with no attribution or revenue limits. On Mistral's API, free-tier inputs and outputs may be used for training unless you opt out; pay-as-you-go users can opt out at any time; thumbs-up and thumbs-down feedback is usable on every plan.

    Running it: 1M chat replies a month at 1,500 input and 250 output tokens cost about $375 on the API and about $190 in batch. Self-hosting needs two to four H100-class GPUs per replica at FP8, or one DGX B200.

    Price: Free weights under Apache 2.0. API: $0.15 input / $0.60 output per 1M tokens; batch 50% off; cached input up to 90% off.

    Read our Mistral Small 4 review
    3.7/5
  5. 5

    Devstral Small 2

    Hosted API retired Mar 31, 2026; open weights still available

    Licence and data: Apache 2.0 with no usage restrictions; self-hosted, so code never leaves your hardware unless you choose a third-party host.

    Running it: No first-party API price exists any more; self-hosting means about 24GB of VRAM for the official FP8 weights, 19.3GB at Q6_K or 14.3GB at Q4_K_M, plus memory for the KV cache at long contexts.

    Price: Free weights under Apache 2.0. Mistral's API version was retired on March 31, 2026, and Artificial Analysis lists no public API.

    Read our Devstral Small 2 review
    3.4/5
  6. 6

    Devstral 2

    Hosted API retired Jul 31, 2026; open weights still available

    Licence and data: Modified MIT: no rights for companies above $20M global monthly revenue in the previous month, including for derivatives, and an attribution notice is required. Self-hosted, code stays on your hardware.

    Running it: Self-hosting needs about 125 GB for weights, so a four-GPU 80 GB node is the floor before KV cache. On Mistral's API, 1B input and 100M output tokens a month would have cost about $600 at list price.

    Price: Open weights under a modified MIT licence (not for companies over $20M monthly revenue). Retired from Mistral's API on July 31, 2026.

    Read our Devstral 2 review
    3.1/5

Sources

The main official source behind each ranked review; every review lists its full set.

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