ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Mistral Medium 3

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct comes out ahead, 62 to 53 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  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. Mistral AI

    Mistral Medium 3

    Released May 7, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI134.1
    • Price$0.40 / $2.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Medium 3

  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 62/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53). It leads on price and context window. Mistral Medium 3 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Medium 3Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Medium 3 134.1 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7
  • Lowest priceLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.341 · Mistral Medium 3 $0.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · Mistral Medium 3 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Mistral Medium 3: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMistral Medium 3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5258
Price25%7254
Inputs & features15%5050
Context window10%10024
Overall100%62/10053/100
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 Mistral Medium 3 specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaMistral Medium 3Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.7134.1 (best)
ECI rank#126 of 148#117 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.8%59.5% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%32.2% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.225 (best)$0.40
Output$0.69 (best)$2.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.341 (best)$0.80
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 4 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window10,000,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—mistral-medium-2505
API providers45 (best)
ReleasedApr 5, 2025May 7, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024May 2025
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
  • Mistral Medium 3$8.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Medium 3?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53). It leads on price and context window. Mistral Medium 3 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Medium 3?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is cheaper at $0.225 input / $0.69 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.341 per million tokens for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct versus $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3 (2.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Medium 3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Medium 3 134.1 (#117 of 148) and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 (#126 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (130.5–135.6 vs 124.8–131.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Medium 3 59.5%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Medium 3 32.2%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 7.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Medium 3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Medium 3 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. 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 131,072 for Mistral Medium 3. Maximum output per response: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Mistral Medium 3 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

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

Are any of these open source?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mistral Medium 3 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Medium 3 is the newest, released May 7, 2025. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, Mistral Medium 3 May 2025.

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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