ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Ministral 8B Instruct

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 85 to 57 and 56 on our weighted score, though Ministral 8B Instruct is 14% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    85/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  2. Meta

    Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    56/100
    • ECI116.6
    • Price$0.152 / $0.167
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

  3. Mistral AI

    Ministral 8B Instruct

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    57/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 8B Instruct
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (57) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (56). It leads 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 priceMinistral 8B InstructMinistral 8B Instruct $0.15 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Ministral 8B Instruct 131,072 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Ministral 8B Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Ministral 8B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Mistral Research License)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMinistral 8B Instruct
Price50%868889
Inputs & features30%1002525
Context window20%612424
Overall100%85/10056/10057/100

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.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Ministral 8B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaMinistral 8B InstructMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)133.9 (best)116.6—
ECI rank#118 of 148 (best)#145 of 148—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—27.0%27.2% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—1.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.152$0.15
Output$0.40$0.167$0.15 (best)
Cached input$0.01——
Blended (3:1)$0.175$0.156$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 9 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)4,096 tokens8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpenMistral Research License
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-lite——
API providers20 (best)91
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Jul 23, 2024Oct 16, 2024
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Dec 2023—
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.

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct$1.85
  • Ministral 8B Instruct$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Ministral 8B Instruct?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (57) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (56). It leads 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, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Ministral 8B Instruct?

Ministral 8B Instruct is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct costs $0.152 input / $0.167 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Ministral 8B Instruct versus $0.156 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (1× as much) and $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has an ECI of 133.9, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct has an ECI of 116.6 and Ministral 8B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Ministral 8B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Ministral 8B Instruct and 128,000 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Ministral 8B Instruct accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Ministral 8B Instruct publishes its weights (Mistral Research License) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. Ministral 8B Instruct came out Oct 16, 2024; Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons