Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite vs Mistral Magistral Small 2509
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite (2025) and Mistral Magistral Small 2509 (2025) are compact production models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite ships a 8K-token context window, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 ships a not-yet-sourced context window. On pricing, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite costs $0.1/1M input tokens versus $0.5/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is ~400% cheaper at $0.1/1M; pay for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 only for provider fit.
Specs
| Released | 2025-07-15 | 2025-09-01 |
| Context window | 8K | — |
| Parameters | 8B | — |
| Architecture | decoder only | - |
| License | Open Source | Proprietary |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-03 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.1/1M tokens | $0.5/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.1/1M tokens | $1.5/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on function calling: Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite, tool use: Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite, and structured outputs: Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite. Both models share the core language-model surface, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite lists $0.1/1M input and $0.1/1M output tokens, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lists $0.5/1M input and $1.5/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite lower by about $0.7 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite when provider fit and lower input-token cost are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when provider fit are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite costs $0.1/1M input and $0.1/1M output tokens. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.5/1M input and $1.5/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Magistral Small 2509 open source?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is listed under Open Source. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is listed under Proprietary. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for function calling, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite has the clearer documented function calling signal in this comparison. If function calling is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for tool use, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite has the clearer documented tool use signal in this comparison. If tool use is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for structured outputs, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite has the clearer documented structured outputs signal in this comparison. If structured outputs is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite and Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is available on Together AI. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is available on AWS Bedrock. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.