Llama 3 70B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3
Llama 3 70B Instruct (2024) and Mistral Small 3 (2025) are compact production models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Llama 3 70B Instruct ships a 8K-token context window, while Mistral Small 3 ships a 33K-token context window. On pricing, Mistral Small 3 costs $0.1/1M input tokens versus $0.4/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Mistral Small 3 is ~300% cheaper at $0.1/1M; pay for Llama 3 70B Instruct only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Decision fit | Coding, Classification, and JSON / Tool use | Agents, Classification, and JSON / Tool use |
| Context window | 8K | 33K |
| Cheapest output | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.3/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 17 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Llama 3 70B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3 70B Instruct for Coding, Classification, and JSON / Tool use.
- Mistral Small 3 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Mistral Small 3 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.3/1M tokens.
- Mistral Small 3 uniquely exposes Function calling and Tool use in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Small 3 for Agents, Classification, and JSON / Tool use.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output prices on this page.
Llama 3 70B Instruct
$420
Cheapest tracked route: Hyperbolic AI Inference
Mistral Small 3
$155
Cheapest tracked route: Together AI
Estimated monthly gap: $265. Batch, cache, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on Together AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Mistral Small 3 is $0.1/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Mistral Small 3 adds Function calling and Tool use in local capability data.
- Provider overlap exists on Together AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Llama 3 70B Instruct is $0.1/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for Function calling and Tool use before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-04-18 | 2025-01-01 |
| Context window | 8K | 33K |
| Parameters | 70B | — |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Open Source | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-12 | 2023-10 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.1/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.3/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | 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 function calling: Mistral Small 3 and tool use: 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 3 70B Instruct lists $0.4/1M input and $0.4/1M output tokens, while 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 Mistral Small 3 lower by about $0.24 per million blended tokens. Availability is 17 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama 3 70B Instruct when provider fit and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Small 3 when long-context analysis, larger context windows, 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. It also helps separate model capability from provider packaging, which can change cost and latency.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Mistral Small 3?
Mistral Small 3 supports 33K tokens, while Llama 3 70B Instruct 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, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Mistral Small 3?
Mistral Small 3 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 3 70B Instruct costs $0.4/1M input and $0.4/1M output tokens. 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 3 70B Instruct or Mistral Small 3 open source?
Llama 3 70B Instruct is listed under Open Source. 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 function calling, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Mistral Small 3?
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 3 70B Instruct or Mistral Small 3?
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 3 70B Instruct and Mistral Small 3?
Llama 3 70B Instruct is available on GCP Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, NVIDIA NIM, and DeepInfra. Mistral Small 3 is available on Together AI. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-16. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.