Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Gemma 3 12B IT vs Ministral 8B Instruct
Gemma 3 12B IT comes out ahead, 55 to 42 and 42 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
MetaLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct
42/100- ECI116.6
- Price$0.152 / $0.167
- Context128K
- Our pick
GoogleGemma 3 12B IT
55/100- ECI123.5
- Price$0.05 / $0.15
- Context131K
Mistral AIMinistral 8B Instruct
42/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context131K
Gemma 3 12B IT is our pick
Gemma 3 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (42). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.
- CapabilityGemma 3 12B ITShared benchmarks: Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5% · Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2% · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%
- Lowest priceGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT $0.075 · Ministral 8B Instruct $0.15 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemma 3 12B IT and Ministral 8B InstructGemma 3 12B IT 131,072 · Ministral 8B Instruct 131,072 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemma 3 12B ITLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Gemma 3 12B IT: Text, Images · Ministral 8B Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | Gemma 3 12B IT | Ministral 8B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityShared benchmarks | 50% | 27 | 39 | 27 |
| Price | 25% | 88 | 100 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 25 | 50 | 25 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 42/100 | 55/100 | 42/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Llama-3.1-8B-InstructMeta | Gemma 3 12B ITGoogle | Ministral 8B InstructMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 116.6 | 123.5 (best) | — |
| ECI rank | #145 of 148 | #138 of 148 (best) | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 27.0% | 39.5% (best) | 27.2% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 1.7% | 16.7% (best) | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.152 | $0.05 (best) | $0.15 |
| Output | $0.167 | $0.15 (best) | $0.15 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.156 | $0.075 (best) | $0.15 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | Median of 7 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| 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 | Open | Open | OpenMistral Research License |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 9 (best) | 7 | 1 |
| Released | Jul 23, 2024 | Mar 12, 2025 | Oct 16, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 2023 | 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.
- Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct$1.85
- Gemma 3 12B IT$0.80
- Ministral 8B Instruct$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Gemma 3 12B IT or Ministral 8B Instruct?
Gemma 3 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (42). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.
Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Gemma 3 12B IT or Ministral 8B Instruct?
Gemma 3 12B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Ministral 8B Instruct costs $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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.075 per million tokens for Gemma 3 12B IT versus $0.15 for Ministral 8B Instruct (2× as much) and $0.156 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (2.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond): Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5%, Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2% and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5%, Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Gemma 3 12B IT and Ministral 8B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemma 3 12B IT 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?
Gemma 3 12B IT and Ministral 8B Instruct have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 128,000 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072, Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Gemma 3 12B IT accepts text and images; Ministral 8B Instruct accepts text. Gemma 3 12B IT handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (Mistral Research License), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Gemma 3 12B IT is the newest, released Mar 12, 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, Gemma 3 12B IT 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 Oct 4, 2026.
Related comparisons
- Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Qwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) · ECI 118.5
- Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle · ECI 116.1
- Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Claude Haiku 3Anthropic · ECI 118.4
- Gemma 3 12B IT vs Qwen TurboAlibaba (Qwen)
- Gemma 3 12B IT vs Ministral 3BMistral AI · ECI 118.1
- Gemma 3 12B IT vs Claude Haiku 3.5Anthropic · ECI 127.2
