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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 vs Solar Pro 2

Too close to call on our weighted score (Solar Pro 2 26, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 25, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 15). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Meta

    Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    25/100
    • ECI116.4
    • Price$0.06 / $0.08
    • Context128K
  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3

    Released May 22, 2024

    15/100
    • ECI109.0
    • Price—
    • Context33K
  3. Upstage

    Solar Pro 2

    Released May 20, 2025

    26/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.25
    • Context66K
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Solar Pro 2 26/100, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 25/100, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 15/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct on price and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct for long inputs. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceLlama-3.1-8B-InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.065 · Solar Pro 2 $0.25 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 unpriced
  • Longest contextLlama-3.1-8B-InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 · Solar Pro 2 65,536 · Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3: Text · Solar Pro 2: Text
  • Self-hostingLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3Publishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMistral 7B Instruct v0.3Solar Pro 2
Inputs & features60%252535
Context window40%24012
Overall100%25/10015/10026/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.

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 Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 vs Solar Pro 2 specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaMistral 7B Instruct v0.3Mistral AISolar Pro 2Upstage
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)116.4 (best)109.0—
ECI rank#162 of 165 (best)#164 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.0% (best)15.2%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.7% (best)0.3%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.06 (best)—$0.25
Output$0.08 (best)—$0.25
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.065 (best)—$0.25
Long-context rateSame rate—Same rate
Price sourceMedian of 17 providers—Official Upstage API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens (best)32,768 tokens65,536 tokens
Max output4,096 tokens32,768 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoYesminimal · high
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache 2.0Proprietary
API model ID——solar-pro2
API providers18 (best)12
ReleasedJul 23, 2024May 22, 2024May 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023—Mar 2025
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$0.76
  • Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3—
  • Solar Pro 2$3.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 or Solar Pro 2?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Solar Pro 2 26/100, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 25/100, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 15/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct on price and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct for long inputs. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 or Solar Pro 2?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.08 output per million tokens (median across 17 API providers). Solar Pro 2 costs $0.25 input / $0.25 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). 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 $0.25 for Solar Pro 2 (3.8× as much). Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 has no published per-token price.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct has an ECI of 116.4, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 has an ECI of 109.0 and Solar Pro 2 has not been scored yet.

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 Solar Pro 2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 65,536 for Solar Pro 2 and 32,768 for Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 up to 32,768, Solar Pro 2 up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 accepts text; Solar Pro 2 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Solar Pro 2 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Solar Pro 2 is the newest, released May 20, 2025. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024; Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 came out May 22, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023, Solar Pro 2 Mar 2025.

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.