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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Ministral 3 8B

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct comes out ahead, 72 to 68 on our weighted score, though Ministral 3 8B is 45% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Meta

    Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    72/100
    • ECI129.6
    • Price$0.17 / $0.59
    • Context10M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

  2. Mistral AI

    Ministral 3 8B

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    68/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 3 8B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is our pick

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Ministral 3 8B (68). It leads on context window. Ministral 3 8B wins on price and inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceMinistral 3 8BMinistral 3 8B $0.15 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · Ministral 3 8B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Ministral 3 8B: 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 InstructMinistral 3 8B
Price50%7385
Inputs & features30%5060
Context window20%10037
Overall100%72/10068/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

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 Ministral 3 8B specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaMinistral 3 8BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.6—
ECI rank#138 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.17$0.15 (best)
Output$0.59$0.15 (best)
Cached input—$0.015
Blended (3:1)$0.275$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 13 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window10,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache 2.0
API model ID—ministral-8b-2512
API providers13 (best)11
ReleasedApr 5, 2025Dec 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 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$2.88
  • Ministral 3 8B$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Ministral 3 8B?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Ministral 3 8B (68). It leads on context window. Ministral 3 8B wins on price and inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Ministral 3 8B?

Ministral 3 8B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.17 input / $0.59 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Ministral 3 8B versus $0.275 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct has an ECI of 129.6 and Ministral 3 8B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Ministral 3 8B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both 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 262,144 for Ministral 3 8B. Maximum output per response: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Ministral 3 8B up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images; Ministral 3 8B accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Ministral 3 8B is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 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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