ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct vs Mistral Small 3 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B

Too close to call on our weighted score (Mistral Small 3.1 24B 40, Mistral Small 3 39, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 33). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Meta

    Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct

    Released Dec 6, 2024

    33/100
    • ECI127.3
    • Price$0.59 / $0.753
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3

    Released Jan 30, 2025

    39/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.05 / $0.08
    • Context33K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.1 24B

    Released Mar 17, 2025

    40/100
    • ECI127.5
    • Price$0.351 / $0.555
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.1 24B
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Mistral Small 3.1 24B 40/100, Mistral Small 3 39/100, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 33/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3 for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Mistral Small 3 has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3Shared benchmarks: Mistral Small 3 27.0% · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 26.7% · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 26.3%
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3Mistral Small 3 $0.058 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B $0.402 · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct $0.631 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama-3.3-70B-Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24BLlama-3.3-70B-Instruct 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 · Mistral Small 3 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.1 24BLlama-3.3-70B-Instruct: Text · Mistral Small 3: 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-3.3-70B-InstructMistral Small 3Mistral Small 3.1 24B
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%262727
Price25%5710066
Inputs & features15%25050
Context window10%24024
Overall100%33/10039/10040/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct vs Mistral Small 3 vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.3-70B-InstructMetaMistral Small 3Mistral AIMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)127.3—127.5 (best)
ECI rank#146 of 165—#145 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.4%47.3%47.5% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics5.1%6.7% (best)5.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.59$0.05 (best)$0.351
Output$0.753$0.08 (best)$0.555
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.631$0.058 (best)$0.402
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 37 providersMedian of 6 providersMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens (best)32,768 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens16,384 tokens (best)16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesNoYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID———
API providers40 (best)69
ReleasedDec 6, 2024Jan 30, 2025Mar 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Oct 31, 2023Jun 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-3.3-70B-Instruct$7.41
  • Mistral Small 3$0.66
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$4.62
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct, Mistral Small 3 or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Mistral Small 3.1 24B 40/100, Mistral Small 3 39/100, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 33/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3 for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Mistral Small 3 has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct, Mistral Small 3 or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.08 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). Mistral Small 3.1 24B costs $0.351 input / $0.555 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers); Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct costs $0.59 input / $0.753 output per million tokens (median across 37 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.058 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3 versus $0.402 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B (7× as much) and $0.631 for Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (11× 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 and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025): Mistral Small 3 27.0%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 26.7% and Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 26.3%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 47.4%, Mistral Small 3 47.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3 6.7%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 5.8%, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 5.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct, Mistral Small 3 and Mistral Small 3.1 24B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that Mistral Small 3 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B have the largest context windows (128,000 and 128,000 tokens), against 32,768 for Mistral Small 3. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct up to 4,096, Mistral Small 3 up to 16,384, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct accepts text; Mistral Small 3 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, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is the newest, released Mar 17, 2025. Mistral Small 3 came out Jan 30, 2025; Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct came out Dec 6, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct Dec 2023, Mistral Small 3 Oct 31, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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