LLM Reference

Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 vs Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct

Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 (2023) and Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct (2024) are compact production models from MistralAI and Microsoft Research. Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 ships a 33k-token context window, while Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct ships a 128k-token context window. On pricing, Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 costs $0.15/1M input tokens versus $0.90/1M 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.

Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 is ~500% cheaper at $0.15/1M; pay for Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct only for long-context analysis.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalMixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
Best forprovider-routed productionprovider-routed production
Decision fitGeneralLong context
Context window33k128k
Cheapest output$0.45/1M tokens$0.90/1M tokens
Provider routes5 tracked2 tracked
Shared benchmarks0 shared0 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 when...
  • Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.45/1M tokens.
  • Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
Choose Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct when...
  • Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
  • 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.

Lower estimate Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1

Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1

$233

Cheapest tracked route/tier: DeepInfra

Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct

$945

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Fireworks AI

Estimated monthly gap: $713. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 -> Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
  • No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 and Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
  • Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct is $0.45/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct -> Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1
  • No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct and Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
  • Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1 is $0.45/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.

Specs

Specification
Released2023-12-102024-08-20
Context window33k128k
Parameters56B3.8B
ArchitectureDecoder OnlyDecoder Only
LicenseApache 2.0OSI-approvedMITOSI-approved
OpennessOpen sourceOpen source
WeightsUnknownUnknown
CodeUnknownUnknown
Commercial useCommercial use: permittedCommercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff2023-122023-10

Pricing and availability

Pricing attributeMixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
Input price$0.15/1M tokens$0.90/1M tokens
Output price$0.45/1M tokens$0.90/1M tokens
Providers

Capabilities

CapabilityMixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1Phi 3.5 Mini Instruct
VisionNoNo
MultimodalNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
JSON / Tool useNoNo
Structured outputsNoNo
Code executionNoNo
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.

Continue comparing

Last reviewed: 2026-06-15. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.