Model Comparison

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3 24B BaseWhich is better in 2026?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3 24B Base — which is better?

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct (by Meta) and Mistral Small 3 24B Base (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MATH), while Mistral Small 3 24B Base is better at 4 benchmarks (ARC-C, GPQA, GSM8k, MMLU). Mistral Small 3 24B Base significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Llama 3.2 3B Instruct if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.01/M input and $0.02/M output

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Base if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MATH), while Mistral Small 3 24B Base is better at 4 benchmarks (ARC-C, GPQA, GSM8k, MMLU).

Mistral Small 3 24B Base significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu Jun 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

20.4B diff

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has 20.4B more parameters than Llama 3.2 3B Instruct, making it 635.2% larger.

Meta
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
3.2Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
23.6Bparameters
3.2B
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
23.6B
Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Meta
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Thu Jun 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Mistral Small 3 24B Base supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.2 3B Instruct does not.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.2 Community License, while Mistral Small 3 24B Base uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

Llama 3.2 Community License

Open weights

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct was released on 2024-09-25, while Mistral Small 3 24B Base was released on 2025-01-30.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base is 4 months newer than Llama 3.2 3B Instruct.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

Sep 25, 2024

1.7 years ago

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Jan 30, 2025

1.4 years ago

4mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Llama 3.2 3B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Base's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Llama 3.2 3B Instruct's cutoff date.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

—

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Oct 2023

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Meta
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher MATH score (48.0% vs 46.0%)
Mistral AI
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher ARC-C score (91.3% vs 78.6%)
Higher GPQA score (34.4% vs 32.8%)
Higher GSM8k score (80.7% vs 77.7%)
Higher MMLU score (80.7% vs 63.4%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Meta
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3 24B Base.

Which is better, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct or Mistral Small 3 24B Base?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is made by Meta and Mistral Small 3 24B Base is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Llama 3.2 3B Instruct compare to Mistral Small 3 24B Base in benchmarks?

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct scores NIH/Multi-needle: 84.7%, ARC-C: 78.6%, GSM8k: 77.7%, IFEval: 77.4%, HellaSwag: 69.8%. Mistral Small 3 24B Base scores ARC-C: 91.3%, GSM8k: 80.7%, MMLU: 80.7%, TriviaQA: 80.3%, MBPP: 69.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.2 3B Instruct and Mistral Small 3 24B Base?

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Mistral Small 3 24B Base supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Llama 3.2 3B Instruct and Mistral Small 3 24B Base?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Llama 3.2 Community License vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Llama 3.2 3B Instruct and Mistral Small 3 24B Base?

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is developed by Meta and Mistral Small 3 24B Base is developed by Mistral AI.

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