ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Ministral 8B Instruct vs Mistral Large 2.1

Ministral 8B Instruct comes out ahead, 42 to 39 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Ministral 8B Instruct

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    42/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 8B Instruct

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 2.1

    Released Nov 18, 2024

    39/100
    • ECI128.5
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Large 2.1

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Ministral 8B Instruct is our pick

Ministral 8B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 42/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (39). It leads on price. Mistral Large 2.1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityMistral Large 2.1Shared benchmarks: Mistral Large 2.1 51.3% · Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%
  • Lowest priceMinistral 8B InstructMinistral 8B Instruct $0.15 · Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameMinistral 8B Instruct 131,072 · Mistral Large 2.1 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMinistral 8B Instruct: Text · Mistral Large 2.1: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMinistral 8B InstructMistral Large 2.1
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%2751
Price25%8927
Inputs & features15%2525
Context window10%2424
Overall100%42/10039/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Ministral 8B Instruct vs Mistral Large 2.1 specifications side by side
SpecificationMinistral 8B InstructMistral AIMistral Large 2.1Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—128.5
ECI rank—#130 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.2%51.3% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—7.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$2.00
Output$0.15 (best)$6.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.15 (best)$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenMistral Research LicenseOpen
API model ID—mistral-large-2411
API providers12 (best)
ReleasedOct 16, 2024Nov 18, 2024
Knowledge cutoff—Nov 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.

  • Ministral 8B Instruct$1.80
  • Mistral Large 2.1$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Ministral 8B Instruct or Mistral Large 2.1?

Ministral 8B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 42/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (39). It leads on price. Mistral Large 2.1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, Ministral 8B Instruct or Mistral Large 2.1?

Ministral 8B Instruct is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Mistral Large 2.1 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Ministral 8B Instruct versus $3.00 for Mistral Large 2.1 (20× 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): Mistral Large 2.1 51.3% and Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Large 2.1 51.3%, Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 8B Instruct and Mistral Large 2.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Large 2.1 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?

Ministral 8B Instruct and Mistral Large 2.1 share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192, Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Ministral 8B Instruct accepts text; Mistral Large 2.1 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Mistral Research License), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Large 2.1 is the newest, released Nov 18, 2024. Ministral 8B Instruct came out Oct 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 2.1 Nov 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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