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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Small 3.1 24B vs Mixtral 8x7B

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

  1. 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

  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. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

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 Mixtral 8x7B (37). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. 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 · Mixtral 8x7B 118.5
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 · Mixtral 8x7B $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 · Mixtral 8x7B 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images · Mixtral 8x7B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Small 3.1 24BMixtral 8x7B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5038
Price25%7657
Inputs & features15%6025
Context window10%240
Overall100%55/10037/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Small 3.1 24B vs Mixtral 8x7B specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AIMixtral 8x7BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)127.5 (best)118.5
ECI rank#132 of 148 (best)#142 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.5% (best)30.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics5.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.229 (best)$0.70
Output$0.436 (best)$0.70
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.281 (best)$0.70
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens (best)32,000 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens32,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID—open-mixtral-8x7b
API providers2 (best)1
ReleasedMar 17, 2025Dec 11, 2023
Knowledge cutoffJun 2024Jan 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.

  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
  • Mixtral 8x7B$8.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Small 3.1 24B or Mixtral 8x7B?

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

Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3.1 24B or Mixtral 8x7B?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is cheaper at $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). 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 $0.70 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) and Mixtral 8x7B 118.5 (#142 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (122.6–129.4 vs 111.3–121.3), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, Mixtral 8x7B 30.6%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Small 3.1 24B and Mixtral 8x7B 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. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 32,000 for Mixtral 8x7B. Maximum output per response: Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384, Mixtral 8x7B up to 32,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images; Mixtral 8x7B accepts text. Mistral Small 3.1 24B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is the newest, released Mar 17, 2025. Mixtral 8x7B came out Dec 11, 2023. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3.1 24B Jun 2024, Mixtral 8x7B Jan 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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