Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct vs Together AI - Mistral Small 3
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct (2026) and Together AI - Mistral Small 3 (2026) are compact production models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct ships a not-yet-sourced context window, while Together AI - Mistral Small 3 ships a 33K-token context window. On pricing, Together AI - Mistral Small 3 costs $0.1/1M input tokens versus $0.24/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Together AI - Mistral Small 3 is ~140% cheaper at $0.1/1M; pay for Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct only for provider fit.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2026-01-01 | 2026-01-20 |
| Context window | — | 33K |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | - | decoder only |
| License | Proprietary | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct | Together AI - Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.24/1M tokens | $0.1/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.97/1M tokens | $0.3/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct | Together AI - Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | 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, function calling: Together AI - Mistral Small 3, and tool use: Together AI - Mistral Small 3. Both models share 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, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct lists $0.24/1M input and $0.97/1M output tokens, while Together AI - Mistral Small 3 lists $0.1/1M input and $0.3/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Together AI - Mistral Small 3 lower by about $0.3 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct when provider fit are central to the workload. Choose Together AI - Mistral Small 3 when provider fit and lower input-token cost 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 Together AI - Mistral Small 3?
Together AI - Mistral Small 3 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct costs $0.24/1M input and $0.97/1M output tokens. Together AI - Mistral Small 3 costs $0.1/1M input and $0.3/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Together AI - Mistral Small 3 open source?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is listed under Proprietary. Together AI - Mistral Small 3 is listed under Open Source. 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 Together AI - Mistral Small 3?
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 function calling, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Together AI - Mistral Small 3?
Together AI - Mistral Small 3 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, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Together AI - Mistral Small 3?
Together AI - Mistral Small 3 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.
Where can I run Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct and Together AI - Mistral Small 3?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is available on AWS Bedrock. Together AI - Mistral Small 3 is available on Together AI. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-05-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.