LLM Reference

Grok 3 Mini vs Mixtral 8x7B

Grok 3 Mini (2025) and Mixtral 8x7B (2023) are compact production models from xAI and MistralAI. Grok 3 Mini ships a 131k-token context window, while Mixtral 8x7B ships a 32k-token context window. On pricing, Mixtral 8x7B costs $0.15/1M input tokens versus $0.25/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.

Mixtral 8x7B is ~67% cheaper at $0.15/1M; pay for Grok 3 Mini only for long-context analysis.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalGrok 3 MiniMixtral 8x7B
Best formultimodal apps and provider-routed productionprovider-routed production
Decision fitRAG, Long context, and VisionCoding and Classification
Context window131k32k
Cheapest output$1.27/1M tokens$0.45/1M tokens
Provider routes2 tracked18 tracked
Shared benchmarks0 shared0 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Grok 3 Mini when...
  • Grok 3 Mini has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
  • Grok 3 Mini uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Structured outputs in local model data.
  • Local decision data tags Grok 3 Mini for RAG, Long context, and Vision.
Choose Mixtral 8x7B when...
  • Mixtral 8x7B has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.45/1M tokens.
  • Mixtral 8x7B has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
  • Local decision data tags Mixtral 8x7B for Coding and Classification.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Lower estimate Mixtral 8x7B

Grok 3 Mini

$518

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Microsoft Foundry

Mixtral 8x7B

$233

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Mistral AI Studio

Estimated monthly gap: $285. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

Grok 3 Mini -> Mixtral 8x7B
  • Provider overlap exists on Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Mixtral 8x7B is $0.82/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
  • Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
Mixtral 8x7B -> Grok 3 Mini
  • Provider overlap exists on Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Grok 3 Mini is $0.82/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
  • Grok 3 Mini adds Vision, Multimodal, and Structured outputs in local capability data.

Specs

Specification
Released2025-02-172023-12-11
Context window131k32k
Parameters—8x7B
Architecture-Mixture of Experts
LicenseProprietaryApache 2.0OSI-approved
OpennessProprietaryOpen source
WeightsNot releasedUnknown
CodeUnknownUnknown
Commercial useCommercial use: conditionalCommercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff2024-112023-12

Pricing and availability

Pricing attributeGrok 3 MiniMixtral 8x7B
Input price$0.25/1M tokens$0.15/1M tokens
Output price$1.27/1M tokens$0.45/1M tokens
Providers
OpenRouterMicrosoft Foundry
Databricks Foundation Model ServingNVIDIA NIMGCP Vertex AIAWS BedrockOctoAI API (Deprecated)Fireworks AI

Capabilities

CapabilityGrok 3 MiniMixtral 8x7B
VisionYesNo
MultimodalYesNo
ReasoningNoNo
JSON / Tool useNoNo
Structured outputsYesNo
Code executionNoNo
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.

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Model pages
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.