Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct vs Mistral Magistral Small 2509
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct (2025) and Mistral Magistral Small 2509 (2025) are general-purpose language models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct ships a 1m-token context window, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 ships a not-yet-sourced context window. On pricing, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct costs $0.24/1M input tokens versus $0.50/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is ~108% cheaper at $0.24/1M; pay for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | multimodal apps, long-context analysis, and provider-routed production | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Long context | General |
| Context window | 1m | — |
| Cheapest output | $0.97/1M tokens | $1.50/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 2 tracked | 2 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.97/1M tokens.
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct uniquely exposes Multimodal and Structured outputs in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct for Coding, RAG, and Long context.
- Use Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when your own prompt tests beat the comparison signals; the local data does not show a decisive standalone advantage yet.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct
$435
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Mistral Magistral Small 2509
$775
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Estimated monthly gap: $341. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on AWS Bedrock and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is $0.53/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for Multimodal and Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
- Provider overlap exists on AWS Bedrock and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is $0.53/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct adds Multimodal and Structured outputs in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-04-05 | 2025-09-01 |
| Context window | 1m | — |
| Parameters | 400B (17B active) | 24B |
| Architecture | - | - |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-08 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.24/1M tokens | $0.50/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.97/1M tokens | $1.50/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | No |
| 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 multimodal input: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct and structured outputs: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct. 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 lists $0.24/1M input and $0.97/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lists $0.50/1M input and $1.50/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct lower by about $0.34 per million blended tokens. Availability is 2 providers versus 2, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 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. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct costs $0.24/1M input and $0.97/1M output tokens. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.50/1M input and $1.50/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Mistral Magistral Small 2509 open source?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is listed under Proprietary. 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 multimodal input, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 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.
Which is better for structured outputs, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 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 Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct and Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is available on AWS Bedrock and Vercel AI Gateway. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is available on AWS Bedrock and Vercel AI Gateway. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct over Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is ~108% cheaper at $0.24/1M; pay for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 only for provider fit. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct; if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Mistral Magistral Small 2509.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-22. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.