Llama 3 70B Instruct vs Mistral Small 4
Llama 3 70B Instruct (2024) and Mistral Small 4 (2026) are compact production models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Llama 3 70B Instruct ships a 8K-token context window, while Mistral Small 4 ships a 256K-token context window. On pricing, Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15/1M input tokens versus $0.4/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Mistral Small 4 is ~167% cheaper at $0.15/1M; pay for Llama 3 70B Instruct only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Decision fit | Coding, Classification, and JSON / Tool use | RAG, Agents, and Long context |
| Context window | 8K | 256K |
| Cheapest output | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.6/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 17 tracked | 3 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Llama 3 70B Instruct has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.4/1M tokens.
- Llama 3 70B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Llama 3 70B Instruct uniquely exposes Structured outputs in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3 70B Instruct for Coding, Classification, and JSON / Tool use.
- Mistral Small 4 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Mistral Small 4 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Small 4 for RAG, Agents, and Long context.
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 4
$270
Cheapest tracked route: OpenRouter
Estimated monthly gap: $150. Batch, cache, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter and NVIDIA NIM; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Mistral Small 4 is $0.2/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
- Mistral Small 4 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling in local capability data.
- Provider overlap exists on NVIDIA NIM and OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Llama 3 70B Instruct is $0.2/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling before moving production traffic.
- Llama 3 70B Instruct adds Structured outputs in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-04-18 | 2026-03-16 |
| Context window | 8K | 256K |
| Parameters | 70B | 119B (6.5B active) |
| Architecture | decoder only | moe |
| License | Open Source | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-12 | 2025-06 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.15/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.6/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 3 70B Instruct | 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 3 70B 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 3 70B Instruct lists $0.4/1M input and $0.4/1M 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 Mistral Small 4 lower by about $0.11 per million blended tokens. Availability is 17 providers versus 3, 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 4 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.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Mistral Small 4?
Mistral Small 4 supports 256K 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 4?
Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 3 70B Instruct costs $0.4/1M input and $0.4/1M 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 3 70B Instruct or Mistral Small 4 open source?
Llama 3 70B Instruct 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 3 70B Instruct 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 3 70B Instruct 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 3 70B Instruct and Mistral Small 4?
Llama 3 70B Instruct is available on GCP Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, NVIDIA NIM, and DeepInfra. Mistral Small 4 is available on OpenRouter, NVIDIA NIM, and Mistral AI Studio. 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.