Codestral 25.08 vs Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B comes out ahead, 51 to 47 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Mistral AI
Codestral 25.08
47/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.90
- Context128K
- Our pick
Nous Research
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.14 / $0.14
- Context8K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B is our pick
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on price. Codestral 25.08 wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B $0.14 · Codestral 25.08 $0.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextCodestral 25.08Codestral 25.08 128,000 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsCodestral 25.08: Text · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B: Text
- Self-hostingHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Llama 3 Community License)
| Measure | Weight | Codestral 25.08 | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 64 | 87 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 47/100 | 51/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.14 (best) |
| Output | $0.90 | $0.14 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.03 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.45 | $0.14 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | OpenLlama 3 Community License |
| API model ID | codestral-2508 | — |
| API providers | 11 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Jul 30, 2025 | Apr 30, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
Codestral 25.08$4.80
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B$1.68
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Codestral 25.08 or Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B?
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Codestral 25.08 (47). It leads on price. Codestral 25.08 wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Codestral 25.08 or Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B?
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B is cheaper at $0.14 input / $0.14 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Codestral 25.08 costs $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.14 per million tokens for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B versus $0.45 for Codestral 25.08 (3.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Codestral 25.08 has not been scored yet and Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Codestral 25.08 and Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Codestral 25.08 has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 8,192 for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B. Maximum output per response: Codestral 25.08 up to 8,192, Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Codestral 25.08 accepts text; Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B publishes its weights (Llama 3 Community License) and can be self-hosted; Codestral 25.08 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Codestral 25.08 is the newest, released Jul 30, 2025. Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B came out Apr 30, 2024.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.