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Mistral AI Free Tier Setup Guide

Mistral AI offers a free Experiment tier with access to all their models -- no credit card required. BisonNotes AI includes a guided in-app wizard that walks you through setup in about 2 minutes. Paid tiers (Build, Scale) are also available for higher rate limits and production use.

What You Get

Feature Details
Transcription Voxtral Mini with speaker diarization ($0.003/min on paid tier, included in free)
Summarization Mistral Medium -- automatic summaries, tasks, and reminders
Free Tier Limits ~2 requests/second, 500K tokens/min, 1B tokens/month
Credit Card Not required for free tier; required for Build/Scale paid tiers
Models All models included (Large, Medium, Magistral)
Paid Tiers Build (pay-as-you-go) and Scale available for higher rate limits

In-App Guided Setup (Recommended)

The easiest way to set up Mistral AI is the built-in onboarding wizard. You can launch it from three places:

Option A: First-Time App Setup

  1. Open BisonNotes AI for the first time
  2. On the setup screen, select "Mistral AI (Free)"
  3. Tap "Save & Configure"
  4. The Mistral onboarding wizard opens automatically
  5. Follow the 5 steps (detailed below)

Option B: AI Settings

  1. Go to Setup (gear icon) > AI Settings
  2. Under "Cloud / Self-Hosted", tap Mistral AI (look for the orange "Free" badge)
  3. Tap "Configure Mistral AI"
  4. Tap "Set Up Free Account" at the top
  5. Follow the wizard steps

Option C: Mistral AI Settings (Direct)

  1. Go to Setup > AI Settings > select Mistral AI > Configure Mistral AI
  2. If no API key is configured, a "Set Up Free Account" banner appears at the top
  3. Tap it to launch the wizard

Wizard Step-by-Step

Step 1: Welcome

Review what's included with the free tier. Tap "Get Started".

Step 2: Create Your Mistral Account

  1. Tap "Open Mistral Console" -- this opens console.mistral.ai in an in-app browser
  2. Sign up with your email address
  3. Verify your phone number (required for the free tier)
  4. Create a workspace (any name works, e.g., "Personal")
  5. Close the browser and tap "I've Created My Account"

Step 3: Generate an API Key

  1. Tap "Open API Keys Page" -- this opens the API keys section of the Mistral console
  2. Click "Create new key"
  3. Name it "BisonNotes" (or anything you prefer)
  4. Copy the key immediately -- Mistral only shows it once!
  5. Close the browser and tap "I've Copied My Key"

Step 4: Paste and Validate Your Key

  1. Tap "Paste from Clipboard" to auto-fill your key, or type/paste it manually into the secure field
  2. Tap "Test Connection"
  3. Wait for the green "Connection successful!" confirmation
  4. Tap "Continue"

If the test fails:

  • Double-check that you copied the full key
  • Make sure you're connected to the internet
  • Try generating a new key if the original was lost

Step 5: Auto-Configuration Complete

The wizard automatically configures optimal settings:

Setting Value
AI Engine Mistral AI (selected as active)
Summarization Model Mistral Medium (25.08)
Transcription Engine Mistral AI (Voxtral Mini)
Speaker Diarization Enabled
Temperature 0.1 (focused/consistent)
JSON Response Format Enabled

Tap "Start Using Mistral AI" -- you're ready to record!

Manual Setup (Alternative)

If you prefer to set things up manually instead of using the wizard:

  1. Go to console.mistral.ai in your browser
  2. Create an account and verify your phone number
  3. Navigate to API Keys and create a new key
  4. In BisonNotes AI, go to Setup > AI Settings > Mistral AI > Configure
  5. Paste your API key
  6. Select your preferred model (Medium recommended)
  7. Test the connection
  8. Save settings
  9. Go to Transcription Settings and select Mistral AI as your transcription engine

After Setup

Recording and Transcription

Just record as normal. When you stop recording:

  1. The audio is sent to Voxtral Mini for transcription
  2. The transcript is then sent to Mistral Medium for summarization
  3. You get a summary with extracted tasks, reminders, and title suggestions

Adjusting Settings Later

All settings can be changed anytime:

  • AI Settings > Mistral AI > Configure -- change model, temperature, max tokens
  • Transcription Settings -- switch transcription engine or toggle diarization
  • The wizard is available again from settings if you need to reconfigure

Free Tier Considerations

The free Experiment tier is generous for personal use:

  • Rate limit: ~2 requests/second (slight delay between operations)
  • Monthly limit: 1 billion tokens (~500+ hours of summarization)
  • No expiration: The free tier doesn't expire

If you hit rate limits, the app automatically retries with a short delay. For heavy usage, you can upgrade to the Build tier (pay-as-you-go) at console.mistral.ai.

Troubleshooting

Issue Solution
Connection test fails Check internet connection; verify key was copied completely
"Invalid API key" error Generate a new key at console.mistral.ai/api-keys
Rate limit errors during transcription Wait 30 seconds and retry; free tier has ~2 req/sec limit
Transcription takes a long time Large files (>24MB) are automatically chunked; this is normal
No speaker labels in transcript Enable diarization in Setup > Transcription Settings > Mistral AI