Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 (2024) and Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct (2024) are compact production models from MistralAI and Microsoft Research. Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 ships a 64k-token context window, while Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct ships a 128k-token context window. On pricing, Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct costs $0.90/1M input tokens versus $2/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct is ~122% cheaper at $0.90/1M; pay for Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 | Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | tool-calling agents | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Agents and JSON / Tool use | Long context |
| Context window | 64k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $2/1M tokens | $0.90/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 1 tracked | 2 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 uniquely exposes JSON / Tool use in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 for Agents and JSON / Tool use.
- Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.90/1M tokens.
- Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct for Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3
$2,100
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Replicate API
Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
$945
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Fireworks AI
Estimated monthly gap: $1,155. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 and Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct is $1.10/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for JSON / Tool use before moving production traffic.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct and Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 is $1.10/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 adds JSON / Tool use in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-07-01 | 2024-08-20 |
| Context window | 64k | 128k |
| Parameters | 8x22B | 3.8B |
| Architecture | Mixture of Experts | Decoder Only |
| License | Apache 2.0OSI-approved | MITOSI-approved |
| Openness | Open source | Open source |
| Weights | Unknown | Unknown |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: permitted | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-01 | 2023-10 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 | Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $2/1M tokens | $0.90/1M tokens |
| Output price | $2/1M tokens | $0.90/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 | Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | No |
| Structured outputs | No | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
Continue comparing
- Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 vs Phi 3.5 MoE Instruct
- Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3 vs Qwen2-7B-Instruct
- Mixtral 8x22B v0.1 vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
- Llama 3 8B Instruct vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
- Together AI - Llama 3 8B Lite vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
- GPT-5.5 vs Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
- Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
- Llama 3 70B Instruct vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
- Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
Popular comparisons for Mixtral 8x22B Instruct v0.3
Popular comparisons for Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
Last reviewed: 2026-05-19. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.