Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 vs Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct comes out ahead, 32 to 25 and 22 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
MetaLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct
32/100- ECI116.4
- Price$0.06 / $0.08
- Context128K
Mistral AIMistral 7B Instruct v0.3
22/100- ECI109.0
- Price—
- Context33K
- Mistral AI
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
25/100- ECI118.4
- Price$0.444 / $0.579
- Context33K
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is our pick
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 32/100 against Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 (25) and Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 (22). It leads on context window. Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%.
- CapabilityMixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1Capabilities Index (ECI): Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 118.4 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.4 · Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 109.0
- Lowest priceLlama-3.1-8B-InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.065 · Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 $0.478 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 unpriced
- Longest contextLlama-3.1-8B-InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 · Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 32,768 · Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3: Text · Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 | Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 67% | 35 | 26 | 38 |
| Inputs & features | 20% | 25 | 25 | 0 |
| Context window | 13% | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 32/100 | 22/100 | 25/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: price. 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 | Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3Mistral AI | Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 116.4 | 109.0 | 118.4 (best) |
| ECI rank | #162 of 165 | #164 of 165 | #160 of 165 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 27.0% | 15.2% | 30.6% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 1.7% (best) | 0.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.06 (best) | — | $0.444 |
| Output | $0.08 (best) | — | $0.579 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.065 (best) | — | $0.478 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | — | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 17 providers | — | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 32,768 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache 2.0 | OpenApache 2.0 |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 18 (best) | 1 | 2 |
| Released | Jul 23, 2024 | May 22, 2024 | Dec 11, 2023 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 2023 | — | — |
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$0.76
- Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3—
- Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1$5.60
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 or Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1?
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 32/100 against Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 (25) and Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 (22). It leads on context window. Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%.
Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 or Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1?
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.08 output per million tokens (median across 17 API providers). Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 costs $0.444 input / $0.579 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.065 per million tokens for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct versus $0.478 for Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 (7.4× as much). Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 118.4 (#160 of 165), Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.4 (#162 of 165) and Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 109.0 (#164 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (110.9–121.0 vs 107.0–121.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 30.6%, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 15.2%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 and Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 32,768 for Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 and 32,768 for Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 up to 32,768, Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 accepts text; Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is the newest, released Jul 23, 2024. Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 came out May 22, 2024; Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 came out Dec 11, 2023. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 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 Nov 2, 2026.
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