ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.2

Mistral Small 3.2 comes out ahead, 60 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

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Mistral Small 3.2 is our pick

Mistral Small 3.2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (46). It leads on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.2Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3.2Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.2Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMistral Small 3.2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3655
Price25%8889
Inputs & features15%2550
Context window10%2424
Overall100%46/10060/100
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 Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaMistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)116.6131.7 (best)
ECI rank#145 of 148#123 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.0%49.1% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.7%30.3% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.152$0.10 (best)
Output$0.167 (best)$0.30
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.156$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output4,096 tokens16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID—mistral-small-2506
API providers9 (best)6
ReleasedJul 23, 2024Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Mar 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$1.85
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Mistral Small 3.2?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (46). It leads on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Mistral Small 3.2?

Mistral Small 3.2 is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.30 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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3.2 versus $0.156 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.2 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 (#123 of 148) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6 (#145 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (126.6–133.9 vs 106.3–121.6), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.2 49.1%, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3.2 30.3%, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 1.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Mistral Small 3.2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3.2 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 Mistral Small 3.2 share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images. Mistral Small 3.2 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023, Mistral Small 3.2 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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