ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Mistral Nemo

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct comes out ahead, 62 to 48 and 46 on our weighted score, though Mistral Nemo is 2.3× cheaper per token.

  1. Meta

    Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    46/100
    • ECI116.6
    • Price$0.152 / $0.167
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct
  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 Nemo

    Released Jul 1, 2024

    48/100
    • ECI118.7
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Nemo
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 Mistral Nemo (48) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (46). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. 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 Nemo 118.7 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6
  • Lowest priceMistral NemoMistral Nemo $0.15 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 · 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 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 · Mistral Nemo 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Mistral Nemo: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama-3.1-8B-InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMistral Nemo
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%365239
Price25%887289
Inputs & features15%255025
Context window10%2410024
Overall100%46/10062/10048/100
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 Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Mistral Nemo specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaMistral NemoMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)116.6129.7 (best)118.7
ECI rank#145 of 148#126 of 148 (best)#140 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.0%51.8% (best)29.9%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.7%7.8% (best)—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.152$0.225$0.15 (best)
Output$0.167$0.69$0.15 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.156$0.341$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersMedian of 4 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens10,000,000 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output4,096 tokens16,384 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID——mistral-nemo
API providers9 (best)45
ReleasedJul 23, 2024Apr 5, 2025Jul 1, 2024
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Aug 2024Jul 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.

  • Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct$1.85
  • Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct$3.63
  • Mistral Nemo$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Nemo?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Mistral Nemo (48) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (46). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Nemo?

Mistral Nemo is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct costs $0.152 input / $0.167 output per million tokens (median across 9 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 $0.15 per million tokens for Mistral Nemo versus $0.156 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (1× as much) and $0.341 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (2.3× 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 Nemo 118.7 (#140 of 148) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6 (#145 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (124.8–131.4 vs 111.3–121.5), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%, Mistral Nemo 29.9%, 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, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Nemo 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 Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and 128,000 for Mistral Nemo. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Mistral Nemo up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images; Mistral Nemo accepts text. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 5, 2025. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024; Mistral Nemo came out Jul 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, Mistral Nemo Jul 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

Related comparisons