ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.2-1B vs Ministral 8B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B

Mistral Small 3.1 24B comes out ahead, 54 to 42 and 39 on our weighted score, though Llama-3.2-1B is 3.3× cheaper per token.

  1. Meta

    Llama-3.2-1B

    Released Sep 25, 2024

    39/100
    • ECI102.0
    • Price$0.064 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.2-1B

  2. Mistral AI

    Ministral 8B Instruct

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    42/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 8B Instruct
  3. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.1 24B

    Released Mar 17, 2025

    54/100
    • ECI127.5
    • Price$0.229 / $0.436
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.1 24B
01 — Verdict

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is our pick

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is the better all-round choice, scoring 54/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42) and Llama-3.2-1B (39). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Llama-3.2-1B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.1 24BShared benchmarks: Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5% · Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2% · Llama-3.2-1B 23.9%
  • Lowest priceLlama-3.2-1BLlama-3.2-1B $0.085 · Ministral 8B Instruct $0.15 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama-3.2-1B and Ministral 8B InstructLlama-3.2-1B 131,072 · Ministral 8B Instruct 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.1 24BLlama-3.2-1B: Text · Ministral 8B Instruct: Text · Mistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama-3.2-1BMinistral 8B InstructMistral Small 3.1 24B
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%242747
Price25%1008976
Inputs & features15%02560
Context window10%242424
Overall100%39/10042/10054/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Llama-3.2-1B vs Ministral 8B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.2-1BMetaMinistral 8B InstructMistral AIMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)102.0—127.5 (best)
ECI rank#147 of 148—#132 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions23.9%27.2%47.5% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics0.6%—5.8% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.064 (best)$0.15$0.229
Output$0.15$0.15 (best)$0.436
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.085 (best)$0.15$0.281
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersMedian of 1 providersMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)131,072 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens8,192 tokens16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingNoYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenLlama 3.2 Community LicenseOpenMistral Research LicenseOpen
API model ID———
API providers2 (best)12 (best)
ReleasedSep 25, 2024Oct 16, 2024Mar 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023—Jun 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-3.2-1B$0.936
  • Ministral 8B Instruct$1.80
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.2-1B, Ministral 8B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is the better all-round choice, scoring 54/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42) and Llama-3.2-1B (39). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Llama-3.2-1B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.2-1B, Ministral 8B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Llama-3.2-1B is cheaper at $0.064 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Ministral 8B Instruct costs $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Mistral Small 3.1 24B costs $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.085 per million tokens for Llama-3.2-1B versus $0.15 for Ministral 8B Instruct (1.8× as much) and $0.281 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B (3.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond): Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2% and Llama-3.2-1B 23.9%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%, Llama-3.2-1B 23.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.2-1B, Ministral 8B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3.1 24B leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that Llama-3.2-1B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama-3.2-1B and Ministral 8B Instruct have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.2-1B up to 8,192, Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.2-1B accepts text; Ministral 8B Instruct accepts text; Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images. Mistral Small 3.1 24B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights (Llama 3.2 Community License and Mistral Research License), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is the newest, released Mar 17, 2025. Ministral 8B Instruct came out Oct 16, 2024; Llama-3.2-1B came out Sep 25, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.2-1B Dec 2023, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Jun 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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