DeepSeek-V3 vs Mistral Large 2.1 vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct comes out ahead, 57 to 49 and 38 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
DeepSeekDeepSeek-V3
49/100- ECI132.3
- Price$0.32 / $1.10
- Context131K
Mistral AIMistral Large 2.1
38/100- ECI128.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context131K
- Our pick
MetaLlama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct
57/100- ECI132.3
- Price$0.245 / $0.838
- Context1M
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is our pick
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against DeepSeek-V3 (49) and Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructCapabilities Index (ECI): Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 132.3 · DeepSeek-V3 132.3 · Mistral Large 2.1 128.6
- Lowest priceLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructLlama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct $0.393 · DeepSeek-V3 $0.515 · Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructLlama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 1,000,000 · DeepSeek-V3 131,072 · Mistral Large 2.1 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructDeepSeek-V3: Text · Mistral Large 2.1: Text · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct: Text, Images
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | DeepSeek-V3 | Mistral Large 2.1 | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 55 | 50 | 55 |
| Price | 25% | 61 | 26 | 66 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 25 | 25 | 50 |
| Context window | 10% | 25 | 25 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 49/100 | 38/100 | 57/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | DeepSeek-V3DeepSeek | Mistral Large 2.1Mistral AI | Llama 4 Maverick 17B InstructMeta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 132.3 | 128.6 | 132.3 (best) |
| ECI rank | #136 of 165 | #142 of 165 | #135 of 165 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 56.5% | 51.3% | 67.0% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 15.8% | 7.8% | 20.6% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.32 | $2.00 | $0.245 (best) |
| Output | $1.10 | $6.00 | $0.838 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.515 | $3.00 | $0.393 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 8 providers | Median of 2 providers | Median of 16 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 16,384 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenDeepSeek Model License | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 8 | 2 | 16 (best) |
| Released | Dec 26, 2024 | Nov 18, 2024 | Apr 5, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Nov 2024 | Aug 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- DeepSeek-V3$5.40
- Mistral Large 2.1$32.00
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct$4.13
Which should you choose?
Which is better: DeepSeek-V3, Mistral Large 2.1 or Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against DeepSeek-V3 (49) and Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3, Mistral Large 2.1 or Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is cheaper at $0.245 input / $0.838 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). DeepSeek-V3 costs $0.32 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (median across 8 API providers); Mistral Large 2.1 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.393 per million tokens for Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct versus $0.515 for DeepSeek-V3 (1.3× as much) and $3.00 for Mistral Large 2.1 (7.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 132.3 (#135 of 165), DeepSeek-V3 132.3 (#136 of 165) and Mistral Large 2.1 128.6 (#142 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (128.6–134.2 vs 127.5–135.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 67.0%, DeepSeek-V3 56.5%, Mistral Large 2.1 51.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 20.6%, DeepSeek-V3 15.8%, Mistral Large 2.1 7.8%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-V3, Mistral Large 2.1 and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for DeepSeek-V3 and 131,072 for Mistral Large 2.1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-V3 up to 8,192, Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct up to 16,384 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
DeepSeek-V3 accepts text; Mistral Large 2.1 accepts text; Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct accepts text and images. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (DeepSeek Model License), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 5, 2025. DeepSeek-V3 came out Dec 26, 2024; Mistral Large 2.1 came out Nov 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 2.1 Nov 2024, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct Aug 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.
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