LLM Reference

Mixtral 8x7B vs Phi-3 Mini 4k

Mixtral 8x7B (2023) and Phi-3 Mini 4k (2024) are compact production models from MistralAI and Microsoft Research. Mixtral 8x7B ships a 32k-token context window, while Phi-3 Mini 4k ships a 4k-token context window. On Google-Proof Q&A, Mixtral 8x7B leads by 13.9 pts. On pricing, Phi-3 Mini 4k costs $0.05/1M input tokens versus $0.15/1M 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 Mini 4k is ~200% cheaper at $0.05/1M; pay for Mixtral 8x7B only for long-context analysis.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalMixtral 8x7BPhi-3 Mini 4k
Best forprovider-routed productionprovider-routed production
Decision fitCoding and ClassificationCoding and Classification
Context window32k4k
Cheapest output$0.45/1M tokens$0.25/1M tokens
Provider routes18 tracked4 tracked
Shared benchmarksGoogle-Proof Q&A leader4 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Mixtral 8x7B when...
  • Mixtral 8x7B holds a shared-benchmark lead on Google-Proof Q&A, ahead by 13.9 points.
  • Mixtral 8x7B has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
  • Mixtral 8x7B has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
  • Local decision data tags Mixtral 8x7B for Coding and Classification.
Choose Phi-3 Mini 4k when...
  • Phi-3 Mini 4k has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.25/1M tokens.
  • Local decision data tags Phi-3 Mini 4k for Coding and Classification.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Lower estimate Phi-3 Mini 4k

Mixtral 8x7B

$233

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Mistral AI Studio

Phi-3 Mini 4k

$103

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Replicate API

Estimated monthly gap: $130. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

Mixtral 8x7B -> Phi-3 Mini 4k
  • Provider overlap exists on Microsoft Foundry, NVIDIA NIM, and Baseten API; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Phi-3 Mini 4k is $0.20/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
Phi-3 Mini 4k -> Mixtral 8x7B
  • Provider overlap exists on NVIDIA NIM, Baseten API, and Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Mixtral 8x7B is $0.20/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.

Specs

Specification
Released2023-12-112024-04-23
Context window32k4k
Parameters8x7B3.8B
ArchitectureMixture of ExpertsDecoder 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 8x7BPhi-3 Mini 4k
Input price$0.15/1M tokens$0.05/1M tokens
Output price$0.45/1M tokens$0.25/1M tokens
Providers
Databricks Foundation Model ServingNVIDIA NIMGCP Vertex AIAWS BedrockOctoAI API (Deprecated)Fireworks AI
Microsoft FoundryNVIDIA NIMBaseten APIReplicate API

Capabilities

CapabilityMixtral 8x7BPhi-3 Mini 4k
VisionNoNo
MultimodalNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
JSON / Tool useNoNo
Structured outputsNoNo
Code executionNoNo
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

BenchmarkMixtral 8x7BPhi-3 Mini 4k
Google-Proof Q&A54.840.9
HumanEval80.559.8
Massive Multitask Language Understanding80.268.2
HellaSwag90.987.1

Continue comparing

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Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.