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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Gemma 3 12B IT vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct comes out ahead, 62 to 57 and 55 on our weighted score, though Gemma 3 12B IT is 4.6× cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Meta

    Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI129.7
    • Price$0.225 / $0.69
    • Context10M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

  2. Google

    Gemma 3 12B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI123.5
    • Price$0.05 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 12B IT

  3. 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

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is our pick

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Gemma 3 12B IT (57) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B (55). It leads on capability and context window. Gemma 3 12B IT wins on price. Mistral Small 3.1 24B wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructCapabilities Index (ECI): Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 · Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT $0.075 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.341 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · Gemma 3 12B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Gemma 3 12B IT: Text, Images · 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 4 Scout 17B InstructGemma 3 12B ITMistral Small 3.1 24B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%524550
Price25%7210076
Inputs & features15%505060
Context window10%1002424
Overall100%62/10057/10055/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Gemma 3 12B IT vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaGemma 3 12B ITGoogleMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.7 (best)123.5127.5
ECI rank#126 of 148 (best)#138 of 148#132 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.8% (best)39.5%47.5%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%16.7% (best)5.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.225$0.05 (best)$0.229
Output$0.69$0.15 (best)$0.436
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.341$0.075 (best)$0.281
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 4 providersMedian of 7 providersMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window10,000,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID———
API providers47 (best)2
ReleasedApr 5, 2025Mar 12, 2025Mar 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Aug 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 4 Scout 17B Instruct$3.63
  • Gemma 3 12B IT$0.80
  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct, Gemma 3 12B IT or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Gemma 3 12B IT (57) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B (55). It leads on capability and context window. Gemma 3 12B IT wins on price. Mistral Small 3.1 24B wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct, Gemma 3 12B IT or Mistral Small 3.1 24B?

Gemma 3 12B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Mistral Small 3.1 24B costs $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.225 input / $0.69 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.075 per million tokens for Gemma 3 12B IT versus $0.281 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B (3.7× as much) and $0.341 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (4.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 (#126 of 148), Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148) and Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5 (#138 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (124.8–131.4 vs 122.6–129.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemma 3 12B IT 16.7%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 7.8%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 5.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct, Gemma 3 12B IT and Mistral Small 3.1 24B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 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 4 Scout 17B Instruct has the largest context window at 10,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Gemma 3 12B IT and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B. Maximum output per response: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images; Gemma 3 12B IT accepts text and images; Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 5, 2025. Mistral Small 3.1 24B came out Mar 17, 2025; Gemma 3 12B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, Gemma 3 12B IT Aug 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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