ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct vs Mixtral 8x7B vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B

Mistral Small 3.1 24B comes out ahead, 55 to 46 and 37 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Meta

    Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct

    Released Dec 6, 2024

    46/100
    • ECI127.3
    • Price$0.59 / $0.724
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct

  2. Mistral AI

    Mixtral 8x7B

    Released Dec 11, 2023

    37/100
    • ECI118.5
    • Price$0.70 / $0.70
    • Context32K
    Full specs Remove Mixtral 8x7B
  3. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.1 24B

    Released Mar 17, 2025

    55/100
    • 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 55/100 against Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (46) and Mixtral 8x7B (37). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.1 24BCapabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 127.3 · Mixtral 8x7B 118.5
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct $0.624 · Mixtral 8x7B $0.70 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 · Mixtral 8x7B 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.1 24BLlama-3.3-70B-Instruct: Text · Mixtral 8x7B: 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-InstructMixtral 8x7BMistral Small 3.1 24B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%493850
Price25%605776
Inputs & features15%252560
Context window10%24024
Overall100%46/10037/10055/100
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 Mixtral 8x7B vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.3-70B-InstructMetaMixtral 8x7BMistral AIMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)127.3118.5127.5 (best)
ECI rank#133 of 148#142 of 148#132 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.4%30.6%47.5% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics5.1%—5.8% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.59$0.70$0.229 (best)
Output$0.724$0.70$0.436 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.624$0.70$0.281 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 21 providersOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens (best)32,000 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens32,000 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model IDllama-3.3-70b-instructopen-mixtral-8x7b—
API providers24 (best)12
ReleasedDec 6, 2024Dec 11, 2023Mar 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Jan 2024Jun 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$7.35
  • Mixtral 8x7B$8.40
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct, Mixtral 8x7B or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (46) and Mixtral 8x7B (37). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct, Mixtral 8x7B or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is cheaper at $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct costs $0.59 input / $0.724 output per million tokens (median across 21 API providers; free on Llama); Mixtral 8x7B costs $0.70 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.281 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3.1 24B versus $0.624 for Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (2.2× as much) and $0.70 for Mixtral 8x7B (2.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148), Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 127.3 (#133 of 148) and Mixtral 8x7B 118.5 (#142 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (122.6–129.4 vs 122.5–129.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 47.4%, Mixtral 8x7B 30.6%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct, Mixtral 8x7B 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. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

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 32,000 for Mixtral 8x7B. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct up to 4,096, Mixtral 8x7B up to 32,000, 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; Mixtral 8x7B 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. Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct came out Dec 6, 2024; Mixtral 8x7B came out Dec 11, 2023. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct Dec 2023, Mixtral 8x7B Jan 2024, 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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