Model Comparison

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: Llama 3.2 90B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct — which is better?

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct (by Meta) and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct (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 90B Instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMMU), while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MATH). Llama 3.2 90B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose Llama 3.2 90B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks

Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMMU), while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MATH).

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

66.0B diff

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct has 66.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct, making it 275.0% larger.

Meta
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
90.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
90.0B
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
24.0B
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Llama 3.2 90B Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Llama 3.2 90B Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Meta
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Llama 3.2 90B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.2, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct

Llama 3.2

Open weights

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct was released on 2024-09-25, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct was released on 2025-03-17.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is 6 months newer than Llama 3.2 90B Instruct.

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct

Sep 25, 2024

1.7 years ago

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Mar 17, 2025

1.2 years ago

5mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Meta
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher GPQA score (46.7% vs 46.0%)
Higher MMLU score (86.0% vs 80.6%)
Higher MMMU score (60.3% vs 59.3%)
Mistral AI
Higher MATH score (69.3% vs 68.0%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Meta
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.2 90B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct.

Which is better, Llama 3.2 90B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is made by Meta and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct 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 90B Instruct compare to Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct in benchmarks?

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct scores AI2D: 92.3%, DocVQA: 90.1%, MGSM: 86.9%, MMLU: 86.0%, ChartQA: 85.5%. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct scores HumanEval: 88.4%, MMLU: 80.6%, TriviaQA: 80.5%, MBPP: 74.7%, MATH: 69.3%.

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.2 90B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct 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 90B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (Llama 3.2 vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Llama 3.2 90B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct?

Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is developed by Meta and Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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