ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Mistral Small 3 vs Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct

Mistral Small 3 comes out ahead, 39 to 33 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3

    Released Jan 30, 2025

    39/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.05 / $0.08
    • Context33K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3

  2. Meta

    Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct

    Released Dec 6, 2024

    33/100
    • ECI127.3
    • Price$0.59 / $0.753
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Mistral Small 3 is our pick

Mistral Small 3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 39/100 against Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (33). It leads on price. Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Mistral Small 3 has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3Shared benchmarks: Mistral Small 3 27.0% · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 26.3%
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3Mistral Small 3 $0.058 · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct $0.631 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama-3.3-70B-InstructLlama-3.3-70B-Instruct 128,000 · Mistral Small 3 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Small 3: Text · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Small 3Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%2726
Price25%10057
Inputs & features15%025
Context window10%024
Overall100%39/10033/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Small 3 vs Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3Mistral AILlama-3.3-70B-InstructMeta
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—127.3
ECI rank—#146 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.3%47.4% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics6.7% (best)5.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.59
Output$0.08 (best)$0.753
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.058 (best)$0.631
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 6 providersMedian of 37 providers
Limits
Context window32,768 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens (best)4,096 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID——
API providers640 (best)
ReleasedJan 30, 2025Dec 6, 2024
Knowledge cutoffOct 31, 2023Dec 2023
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$0.66
  • Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct$7.41
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Small 3 or Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct?

Mistral Small 3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 39/100 against Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (33). It leads on price. Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Mistral Small 3 has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3 or Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct?

Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.08 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct costs $0.59 input / $0.753 output per million tokens (median across 37 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.058 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3 versus $0.631 for Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (11× 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 and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025): Mistral Small 3 27.0% and Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 26.3%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 47.4%, Mistral Small 3 47.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3 6.7%, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 5.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Small 3 and Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that Mistral Small 3 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 32,768 for Mistral Small 3. Maximum output per response: Mistral Small 3 up to 16,384, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct up to 4,096 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Small 3 accepts text; Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3 is the newest, released Jan 30, 2025. Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct came out Dec 6, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3 Oct 31, 2023, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct Dec 2023.

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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