Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Pixtral-12B
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Pixtral-12B are closely matched at -2.6 and -1.6 on the LLM Stats Score. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is 6.7x cheaper per token.
Meta · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Pixtral-12B are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -2.6 and -1.6.
In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is roughly 6.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (131,072 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 3 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 6.7x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
Choose Pixtral-12B
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2024
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
18 reported for Llama 3.1 8B Instruct · 12 for Pixtral-12B
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (HumanEval, IFEval, MMLU), while Pixtral-12B is better at 0 benchmarks.
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct ($0.02/1M tokens) is 7.5x cheaper than Pixtral-12B ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct ($0.03/1M tokens) is 5.0x cheaper than Pixtral-12B ($0.15/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Pixtral-12B is more expensive than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Pixtral-12B has 4.4B more parameters than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, making it 55.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to Pixtral-12B's 128,000 tokens. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Pixtral-12B is limited to 8,192 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Pixtral-12B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 8B Instruct does not.
Pixtral-12B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Pixtral-12B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Pixtral-12B uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Llama 3.1 Community License
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23, while Pixtral-12B was released on 2024-09-17.
Pixtral-12B is 2 months newer than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.
Jul 23, 2024
2.2 years ago
Sep 17, 2024
2.0 years ago
1mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Pixtral-12B's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Llama 3.1 8B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Pixtral-12B's cutoff date.
Dec 2023
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Provider Availability
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Lambda, Groq, Sambanova, Cerebras, Hyperbolic, Together, Fireworks, Bedrock. Pixtral-12B is available from Mistral AI.
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Pixtral-12B
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Pixtral-12B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Pixtral-12B.