Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 vs Mistral Small 4
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 (2025) and Mistral Small 4 (2026) are general-purpose language models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 ships a 1M-token context window, while Mistral Small 4 ships a 256k-token context window. On pricing, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 costs $0.15/1M input tokens versus $0.15/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Mistral Small 4 is safer overall; choose Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 when long-context analysis matters.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-04-05 | 2026-03-16 |
| Context window | 1M | 256k |
| Parameters | 17B | 119B (6.5B active) |
| Architecture | mixture of experts | moe |
| License | Open Source | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.15/1M tokens | $0.15/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.6/1M tokens | $0.6/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Mistral Small 4, multimodal input: Mistral Small 4, function calling: Mistral Small 4, tool use: Mistral Small 4, and structured outputs: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8. 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, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 lists $0.15/1M input and $0.6/1M output tokens, while Mistral Small 4 lists $0.15/1M input and $0.6/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 lower by about $0 per million blended tokens. Availability is 7 providers versus 2, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 when long-context analysis, larger context windows, and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Small 4 when vision-heavy evaluation 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, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 or Mistral Small 4?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 supports 1M tokens, while Mistral Small 4 supports 256k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 or Mistral Small 4?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 costs $0.15/1M input and $0.6/1M output tokens. Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/1M input and $0.6/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 or Mistral Small 4 open source?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 is listed under Open Source. Mistral Small 4 is listed under Apache 2.0. 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, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 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, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 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 Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 and Mistral Small 4?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct FP8 is available on Microsoft Foundry, Together AI, OpenRouter, Fireworks AI, and DeepInfra. Mistral Small 4 is available on OpenRouter and NVIDIA NIM. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.