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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Ministral 3B

Ministral 3B comes out ahead, 49 to 46 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  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

    Mistral AI

    Ministral 3B

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    49/100
    • ECI118.1
    • Price$0.10 / $0.10
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 3B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Ministral 3B is our pick

Ministral 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (46). It leads on capability and price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMinistral 3BCapabilities Index (ECI): Ministral 3B 118.1 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6
  • Lowest priceMinistral 3BMinistral 3B $0.10 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 · Ministral 3B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Ministral 3B: 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-InstructMinistral 3B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3638
Price25%8897
Inputs & features15%2525
Context window10%2424
Overall100%46/10049/100
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 Ministral 3B specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaMinistral 3BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)116.6118.1 (best)
ECI rank#145 of 148#144 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.0% (best)25.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.152$0.10 (best)
Output$0.167$0.10 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.156$0.10 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output4,096 tokens8,192 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID——
API providers9 (best)1
ReleasedJul 23, 2024Oct 16, 2024
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Mar 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
  • Ministral 3B$1.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Ministral 3B?

Ministral 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (46). It leads on capability and price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Ministral 3B?

Ministral 3B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.10 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 $0.10 per million tokens for Ministral 3B versus $0.156 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Ministral 3B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Ministral 3B 118.1 (#144 of 148) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6 (#145 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (107.4–121.8 vs 106.3–121.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%, Ministral 3B 25.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Ministral 3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Ministral 3B leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Ministral 3B share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Ministral 3B up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Ministral 3B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Ministral 3B is the newest, released Oct 16, 2024. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023, Ministral 3B Mar 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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