ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 72 and 65 on our weighted score, though Mistral Small 3.2 24B is 14% cheaper per token.

  1. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2 24B

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    65/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.305
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2 24B

  2. 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
  3. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    83/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (72) and Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65). It leads on inputs & features. Mistral Small 3.2 24B wins on price. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct wins on context window. 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 priceMistral Small 3.2 24BMistral Small 3.2 24B $0.151 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · 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 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Mistral Small 3.2 24B 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMistral Small 3.2 24B: Text, Images · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2 24B and Llama 4 Scout 17B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Small 3.2 24BLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Price50%857382
Inputs & features30%5050100
Context window20%3610061
Overall100%65/10072/10083/100

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.

Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3.2 24BMistral AILlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—129.6—
ECI rank—#138 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—51.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—7.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.17$0.10 (best)
Output$0.305 (best)$0.59$0.40
Cached input——$0.01
Blended (3:1)$0.151 (best)$0.275$0.175
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 8 providersMedian of 13 providersOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window256,000 tokens10,000,000 tokens (best)1,048,576 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens16,384 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsNoNoYes
AudioNoNoYes
VideoNoNoYes
ReasoningNoNoYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenProprietary
API model ID——gemini-2.5-flash-lite
API providers81324 (best)
ReleasedJun 20, 2025Apr 5, 2025Jun 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffOct 31, 2023Aug 2024Jan 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.

  • Mistral Small 3.2 24B$1.61
  • Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct$2.88
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Small 3.2 24B, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (72) and Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65). It leads on inputs & features. Mistral Small 3.2 24B wins on price. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct wins on context window. 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, Mistral Small 3.2 24B, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.305 output per million tokens (median across 8 API providers). Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google 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 $0.151 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3.2 24B versus $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.2× as much) and $0.275 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Mistral Small 3.2 24B has not been scored yet, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct has an ECI of 129.6 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Small 3.2 24B, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. 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 1,048,576 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and 256,000 for Mistral Small 3.2 24B. Maximum output per response: Mistral Small 3.2 24B up to 16,384, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B accepts text and images; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3.2 24B Oct 31, 2023, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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