Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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.
MetaLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct
56/100- ECI116.6
- Price$0.152 / $0.167
- Context128K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
85/100- ECI133.9
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
Mistral AIMinistral 8B Instruct
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context131K
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-LiteLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Ministral 8B Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Ministral 8B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Mistral Research License)
| Measure | Weight | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Ministral 8B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 88 | 86 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 100 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 61 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 56/100 | 85/100 | 57/100 |
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 | Llama-3.1-8B-InstructMeta | Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle | Ministral 8B InstructMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 116.6 | 133.9 (best) | — |
| ECI rank | #145 of 148 | #118 of 148 (best) | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 27.0% | — | 27.2% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 1.7% | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.152 | $0.10 (best) | $0.15 |
| Output | $0.167 | $0.40 | $0.15 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.01 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.156 | $0.175 | $0.15 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | Official Google API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | OpenMistral Research License |
| API model ID | — | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | — |
| API providers | 9 | 20 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jul 23, 2024 | Jun 17, 2025 | Oct 16, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 2023 | Jan 2025 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct$1.85
- Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
- Ministral 8B Instruct$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct has an ECI of 116.6, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has an ECI of 133.9 and Ministral 8B Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; 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: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 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.
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