Model Comparison

Ministral 8B Instruct vs Muse Spark 1.1Which is better in 2026?

Comparing Ministral 8B Instruct and Muse Spark 1.1 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Ministral 8B Instruct vs Muse Spark 1.1 — which is better?

Ministral 8B Instruct (by Mistral AI) and Muse Spark 1.1 (by Meta) 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.

On price, Ministral 8B Instruct is roughly 20.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Muse Spark 1.1 also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Ministral 8B Instruct if…

  • cost matters — it's about 20.0x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Muse Spark 1.1 if…

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Ministral 8B Instruct and Muse Spark 1.1don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Ministral 8B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Ministral 8B Instruct ($0.10/1M tokens) is 12.5x cheaper than Muse Spark 1.1 ($1.25/1M tokens).

For output processing, Ministral 8B Instruct ($0.10/1M tokens) is 42.5x cheaper than Muse Spark 1.1 ($4.25/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Muse Spark 1.1 is more expensive than Ministral 8B Instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.10
Best providerMistral
Meta
Muse Spark 1.1
Input tokens$1.25
Output tokens$4.25
Best providerMeta
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Muse Spark 1.1 accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Ministral 8B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Muse Spark 1.1 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Ministral 8B Instruct is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Meta
Muse Spark 1.1
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Muse Spark 1.1 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Ministral 8B Instruct does not.

Muse Spark 1.1 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Ministral 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Muse Spark 1.1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Ministral 8B Instruct is licensed under Mistral Research License, while Muse Spark 1.1 uses a proprietary license.

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

Ministral 8B Instruct

Mistral Research License

Open weights

Muse Spark 1.1

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Ministral 8B Instruct was released on 2024-10-16, while Muse Spark 1.1 was released on 2026-07-09.

Muse Spark 1.1 is 21 months newer than Ministral 8B Instruct.

Ministral 8B Instruct

Oct 16, 2024

1.8 years ago

Muse Spark 1.1

Jul 9, 2026

1 weeks ago

1.7yr 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

Provider Availability

Ministral 8B Instruct is available from Mistral AI. Muse Spark 1.1 is available from Meta Model API.

Ministral 8B Instruct

mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.10/1M

Muse Spark 1.1

meta logo
Meta
Input Price:Input: $1.25/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.25/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights
Meta
Larger context window (1,048,576 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Ministral 8B Instruct and Muse Spark 1.1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Ministral 8B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Muse Spark 1.1
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct
Meta
Muse Spark 1.1

FAQ

Common questions about Ministral 8B Instruct vs Muse Spark 1.1.

Which is better, Ministral 8B Instruct or Muse Spark 1.1?

Ministral 8B Instruct (Mistral AI) and Muse Spark 1.1 (Meta) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Ministral 8B Instruct compare to Muse Spark 1.1 in benchmarks?

Ministral 8B Instruct scores MT-Bench: 83.0%, Winogrande: 75.3%, ARC-C: 71.9%, Arena Hard: 70.9%, MBPP pass@1: 70.0%. Muse Spark 1.1 scores CharXiv-R: 88.4%, MCP Atlas: 88.1%, OSWorld-Verified: 80.8%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 80.0%, BabyVision: 76.3%.

Is Ministral 8B Instruct cheaper than Muse Spark 1.1?

Ministral 8B Instruct is 12.5x cheaper for input tokens. Ministral 8B Instruct costs $0.10/M input and $0.10/M output via mistral. Muse Spark 1.1 costs $1.25/M input and $4.25/M output via meta.

What are the context window sizes for Ministral 8B Instruct and Muse Spark 1.1?

Ministral 8B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Muse Spark 1.1 supports 1.0M tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Ministral 8B Instruct and Muse Spark 1.1?

Key differences include context window (128K vs 1.0M), input pricing ($0.10 vs $1.25/M), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Mistral Research License vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Ministral 8B Instruct and Muse Spark 1.1?

Ministral 8B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI and Muse Spark 1.1 is developed by Meta.

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