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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Devstral Small vs Apertus 8B

Too close to call on our weighted score (Devstral Small 57, Apertus 8B 56). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Mistral AI

    Devstral Small

    Released Jul 10, 2025Deprecated

    57/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
  2. Swiss AI

    Apertus 8B

    Released Sep 2, 2025

    56/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.20
    • Context66K
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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Devstral Small 57/100, Apertus 8B 56/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Apertus 8B on price and Devstral Small for long inputs. 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 priceApertus 8BApertus 8B $0.125 · Devstral Small $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextDevstral SmallDevstral Small 128,000 · Apertus 8B 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsDevstral Small: Text · Apertus 8B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDevstral SmallApertus 8B
Price50%8993
Inputs & features30%2525
Context window20%2412
Overall100%57/10056/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Devstral Small vs Apertus 8B specifications side by side
SpecificationDevstral SmallMistral AIApertus 8BSwiss AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.10
Output$0.30$0.20 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.15$0.125 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model IDdevstral-small-2507—
API providers2 (best)1
ReleasedJul 10, 2025Sep 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMay 2025Sep 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Devstral Small$1.60
  • Apertus 8B$1.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Devstral Small or Apertus 8B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Devstral Small 57/100, Apertus 8B 56/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Apertus 8B on price and Devstral Small for long inputs. 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, Devstral Small or Apertus 8B?

Apertus 8B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Devstral Small costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.125 per million tokens for Apertus 8B versus $0.15 for Devstral Small (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Devstral Small has not been scored yet and Apertus 8B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Devstral Small and Apertus 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?

Devstral Small has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 65,536 for Apertus 8B. Maximum output per response: Devstral Small up to 128,000, Apertus 8B up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Devstral Small accepts text; Apertus 8B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Apertus 8B is the newest, released Sep 2, 2025. Devstral Small came out Jul 10, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Devstral Small May 2025, Apertus 8B Sep 2025.

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 Oct 4, 2026.