Llama 3.1 70B Instruct vs Mistral Large 2
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct (2024) and Mistral Large 2 (2025) are compact production models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ships a 128k-token context window, while Mistral Large 2 ships a 128k-token context window. On HumanEval, Mistral Large 2 leads by 0.7 pts. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Mistral Large 2 is safer overall; choose Llama 3.1 70B Instruct when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct | Mistral Large 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | multimodal apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Long context | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | 128k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $0.40/1M tokens | $2.40/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 13 tracked | 4 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 3 rows | HumanEval leader |
Decision tradeoffs
- Llama 3.1 70B Instruct holds a shared-benchmark lead on Massive Multitask Language Understanding, ahead by 2 points.
- Llama 3.1 70B Instruct has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.40/1M tokens.
- Llama 3.1 70B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3.1 70B Instruct for Coding, RAG, and Long context.
- Mistral Large 2 holds a shared-benchmark lead on HumanEval, ahead by 0.7 points.
- Mistral Large 2 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mistral Large 2 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct
$420
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Hyperbolic AI Inference
Mistral Large 2
$984
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Estimated monthly gap: $564. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter, IBM watsonx, and AWS Bedrock; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Mistral Large 2 is $2/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Mistral Large 2 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Function calling in local capability data.
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter, IBM watsonx, and AWS Bedrock; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is $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.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-07-23 | 2025-11-25 |
| Context window | 128k | 128k |
| Parameters | 70B | 123B |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Llama 3 Community | Mistral License |
| Openness | Open weights | Open weights |
| Commercial use | Commercial use with conditions | Non-commercial only |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-12 | 2025-07 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct | Mistral Large 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.40/1M tokens | $0.48/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.40/1M tokens | $2.40/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct | Mistral Large 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct | Mistral Large 2 |
|---|---|---|
| HumanEval | 84.1 | 84.8 |
| Massive Multitask Language Understanding | 86.0 | 84.0 |
| HellaSwag | 94.2 | 93.8 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, HumanEval has Llama 3.1 70B Instruct at 84.1 and Mistral Large 2 at 84.8, with Mistral Large 2 ahead by 0.7 points; Massive Multitask Language Understanding has Llama 3.1 70B Instruct at 86 and Mistral Large 2 at 84, with Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ahead by 2 points; HellaSwag has Llama 3.1 70B Instruct at 94.2 and Mistral Large 2 at 93.8, with Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ahead by 0.4 points. The largest visible gap is 2 points on Massive Multitask Language Understanding, which matters most when that benchmark mirrors your workload. Treat isolated benchmark wins as directional, because provider routing, prompt style, and tool access can move real application results.
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Mistral Large 2, multimodal input: Mistral Large 2, function calling: Mistral Large 2, and tool use: Mistral Large 2. 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 3.1 70B Instruct lists $0.40/1M input and $0.40/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Mistral Large 2 lists $0.48/1M input and $2.40/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Llama 3.1 70B Instruct lower by about $0.66 per million blended tokens. Availability is 13 providers versus 4, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama 3.1 70B Instruct when provider fit, lower input-token cost, and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Large 2 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 3.1 70B Instruct or Mistral Large 2?
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct supports 128k tokens, while Mistral Large 2 supports 128k 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 3.1 70B Instruct or Mistral Large 2?
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 3.1 70B Instruct costs $0.40/1M input and $0.40/1M output tokens. Mistral Large 2 costs $0.48/1M input and $2.40/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Llama 3.1 70B Instruct or Mistral Large 2 open source?
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is listed under Llama 3 Community. Mistral Large 2 is listed under Mistral License. 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 3.1 70B Instruct or Mistral Large 2?
Mistral Large 2 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 3.1 70B Instruct or Mistral Large 2?
Mistral Large 2 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 3.1 70B Instruct and Mistral Large 2?
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is available on Cloudflare Workers AI, OctoAI API (Deprecated), Together AI, Fireworks AI, and NVIDIA NIM. Mistral Large 2 is available on OpenRouter, IBM watsonx, AWS Bedrock, and Mistral AI Studio. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-22. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.