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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4o mini vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct comes out ahead, 62 to 56 and 55 on our weighted score, though GPT-4o mini is 23% cheaper per token.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-4o mini

    Released Jul 18, 2024

    56/100
    • ECI126.6
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o mini
  2. Our pick

    Meta

    Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI129.7
    • Price$0.225 / $0.69
    • Context10M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.1 24B

    Released Mar 17, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI127.5
    • Price$0.229 / $0.436
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.1 24B
01 — Verdict

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is our pick

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against GPT-4o mini (56) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B (55). It leads on capability and context window. GPT-4o mini wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructCapabilities Index (ECI): Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 · GPT-4o mini 126.6
  • Lowest priceGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini $0.263 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.341 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · GPT-4o mini 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4o miniLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMistral Small 3.1 24B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%495250
Price25%777276
Inputs & features15%705060
Context window10%2410024
Overall100%56/10062/10055/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-4o mini vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4o miniOpenAILlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)126.6129.7 (best)127.5
ECI rank#135 of 148#126 of 148 (best)#132 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions37.7%51.8% (best)47.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics0.7%——
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics6.9%7.8% (best)5.8%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions8.3%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$0.225$0.229
Output$0.60$0.69$0.436 (best)
Cached input$0.075——
Blended (3:1)$0.263 (best)$0.341$0.281
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 4 providersMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens10,000,000 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens16,384 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgpt-4o-mini——
API providers21 (best)42
ReleasedJul 18, 2024Apr 5, 2025Mar 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffSep 2023Aug 2024Jun 2024
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.

  • GPT-4o mini$2.70
  • Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct$3.63
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4o mini, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against GPT-4o mini (56) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B (55). It leads on capability and context window. GPT-4o mini wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4o mini, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

GPT-4o mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Mistral Small 3.1 24B costs $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.225 input / $0.69 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for GPT-4o mini versus $0.281 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B (1.1× as much) and $0.341 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 (#126 of 148), Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148) and GPT-4o mini 126.6 (#135 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (124.8–131.4 vs 122.6–129.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, GPT-4o mini 37.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 7.8%, GPT-4o mini 6.9%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 5.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4o mini, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Llama 4 Scout 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 Scout 17B Instruct has the largest context window at 10,000,000 tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-4o mini and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4o mini up to 16,384, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4o mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images; Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images. GPT-4o mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4o mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 5, 2025. Mistral Small 3.1 24B came out Mar 17, 2025; GPT-4o mini came out Jul 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4o mini Sep 2023, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Jun 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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