Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite vs Mistral Medium 3.5
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite (2025) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (2026) are frontier reasoning models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite ships a 8k-token context window, while Mistral Medium 3.5 ships a 256k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is ~1400% cheaper at $0.10/1M; pay for Mistral Medium 3.5 only for reasoning depth.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | tool-calling agents | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | Agents, Classification, and JSON / Tool use | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | 8k | 256k |
| Cheapest output | $0.10/1M tokens | $7.50/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 1 tracked | 3 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.10/1M tokens.
- Local decision data tags Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite for Agents, Classification, and JSON / Tool use.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Medium 3.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite
$105
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Together AI
Mistral Medium 3.5
$3,075
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Mistral AI Studio
Estimated monthly gap: $2,970. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite and Mistral Medium 3.5; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 is $7.40/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Mistral Medium 3.5 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Medium 3.5 and Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is $7.40/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-07-15 | 2026-04-29 |
| Context window | 8k | 256k |
| Parameters | 8B | 128B |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Llama 3 Community | Proprietary |
| Openness | Open weights | Proprietary |
| Commercial use | Commercial use with conditions | Commercial use with conditions |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-03 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.10/1M tokens | $1.50/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.10/1M tokens | $7.50/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Function calling | Yes | Yes |
| Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Mistral Medium 3.5, multimodal input: Mistral Medium 3.5, and reasoning mode: Mistral Medium 3.5. Both models share function calling, tool use, and structured outputs, 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 $0.10/1M input and $0.10/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Mistral Medium 3.5 lists $1.50/1M input and $7.50/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite lower by about $3.20 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 3, 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 Medium 3.5 when reasoning depth, larger context windows, and broader provider choice are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 supports 256k tokens, while Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite supports 8k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite costs $0.10/1M input and $0.10/1M output tokens. Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50/1M input and $7.50/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Medium 3.5 open source?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is listed under Llama 3 Community. Mistral Medium 3.5 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 vision, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for multimodal input, Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5 has the clearer documented multimodal input signal in this comparison. If multimodal input 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 Medium 3.5?
Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite is available on Together AI. Mistral Medium 3.5 is available on Mistral AI Studio, OpenRouter, and Vercel AI Gateway. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-22. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.