ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs GPT-4o mini vs Ministral 8B Instruct

GPT-4o mini comes out ahead, 51 to 42 and 42 on our weighted score, though Ministral 8B Instruct is 43% cheaper per token.

  1. Meta

    Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    42/100
    • ECI116.6
    • Price$0.152 / $0.167
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4o mini

    Released Jul 18, 2024

    51/100
    • ECI126.6
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o mini

  3. Mistral AI

    Ministral 8B Instruct

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    42/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 8B Instruct
01 — Verdict

GPT-4o mini is our pick

GPT-4o mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (42). It leads on capability 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.

  • CapabilityGPT-4o miniShared benchmarks: GPT-4o mini 37.7% · Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2% · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%
  • Lowest priceMinistral 8B InstructMinistral 8B Instruct $0.15 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 · GPT-4o mini $0.263 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMinistral 8B InstructMinistral 8B Instruct 131,072 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 · GPT-4o mini 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4o miniLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · GPT-4o mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Ministral 8B Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Ministral 8B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Mistral Research License)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama-3.1-8B-InstructGPT-4o miniMinistral 8B Instruct
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%273827
Price25%887789
Inputs & features15%257025
Context window10%242424
Overall100%42/10051/10042/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs GPT-4o mini vs Ministral 8B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaGPT-4o miniOpenAIMinistral 8B InstructMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)116.6126.6 (best)—
ECI rank#145 of 148#135 of 148 (best)—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.0%37.7% (best)27.2%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—0.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.7%6.9% (best)—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—8.3%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.152$0.15 (best)$0.15 (best)
Output$0.167$0.60$0.15 (best)
Cached input—$0.075—
Blended (3:1)$0.156$0.263$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens16,384 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryOpenMistral Research License
API model ID—gpt-4o-mini—
API providers921 (best)1
ReleasedJul 23, 2024Jul 18, 2024Oct 16, 2024
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Sep 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.

  • Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct$1.85
  • GPT-4o mini$2.70
  • Ministral 8B Instruct$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, GPT-4o mini or Ministral 8B Instruct?

GPT-4o mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (42). It leads on capability 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, GPT-4o mini 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); GPT-4o mini costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI 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 $0.263 for GPT-4o mini (1.8× 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): GPT-4o mini 37.7%, Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2% and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4o mini 37.7%, 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, GPT-4o mini and Ministral 8B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4o mini 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?

Ministral 8B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and 128,000 for GPT-4o mini. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, GPT-4o mini up to 16,384, Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; GPT-4o mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Ministral 8B Instruct accepts text. GPT-4o mini 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; GPT-4o mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Ministral 8B Instruct is the newest, released Oct 16, 2024. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024; GPT-4o mini came out Jul 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023, GPT-4o mini Sep 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