Llama 3.1 8B Turbo vs Mistral Medium 3

Compare Llama 3.1 8B Turbo and Mistral Medium 3: pricing, performance, context window, latency, and best use cases. Side-by-side comparison on XALEN.

Updated 2026-05-21 · By Abhishek Raj · Our methodology

All Meta models All Mistral models What is an LLM API? Python Quickstart What is inference?
Feature Llama 3.1 8B Turbo Mistral Medium 3
CategoryCompactOpen Source
Parameters8B70B
Context Window128K128K
Input Price$0.01/1M tokens$0.04/1M tokens
Output Price$0.02/1M tokens$0.08/1M tokens
Latency~60ms~300ms

Choose Llama 3.1 8B Turbo when:

  • ✓ Intent classification
  • ✓ Content filtering
  • ✓ Simple Q&A
Key Strengths:

Extremely fast, Very low cost, 128K context

Choose Mistral Medium 3 when:

  • ✓ Production APIs
  • ✓ Template filling
  • ✓ General purpose
Key Strengths:

Good balance, Strong function calling, Reliable

Verdict: Llama 3.1 8B Turbo vs Mistral Medium 3

For cost efficiency, Llama 3.1 8B Turbo wins at $0.01/1M input tokens. For speed, Mistral Medium 3 is faster at ~300ms. Llama 3.1 8B Turbo excels at Intent classification while Mistral Medium 3 is better for Production APIs. Both are available on XALEN through a single API — try them in the Playground to see which fits your workload.

Detailed Analysis

Pricing Comparison

Llama 3.1 8B Turbo costs $0.01/1M input tokens and $0.02/1M output tokens. Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.04 input and $0.08 output. Llama 3.1 8B Turbo is 4.0x cheaper on input tokens. XALEN offers batch processing at 50% discount on both models.

Performance & Context

Llama 3.1 8B Turbo has a 128K context window with ~60ms latency. Mistral Medium 3 offers 128K context at ~300ms. Both have identical context windows.

Best For

Llama 3.1 8B Turbo (Compact) is optimized for: Intent classification, Content filtering, Simple Q&A. Mistral Medium 3 (Open Source) works best for: Production APIs, Template filling, General purpose.

Try Both on XALEN

Both models are available through XALEN's OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between them by changing the model parameter:

from xalen import XALEN

client = XALEN(api_key="xln_test_YOUR_KEY")

# Use Llama 3.1 8B Turbo
response_a = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="llama-3-1-8b-turbo",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

# Use Mistral Medium 3
response_b = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="mistral-medium-3",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

Start Building with XALEN

200+ AI models. One API. Pay-as-you-go.

Get API Key Try in Playground

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Llama 3.1 8B Turbo or Mistral Medium 3?

Llama 3.1 8B Turbo (Compact, 8B) offers Extremely fast. Mistral Medium 3 (Open Source, 70B) offers Good balance. Choose Llama 3.1 8B Turbo for Intent classification or Mistral Medium 3 for Production APIs.

How much does Llama 3.1 8B Turbo cost vs Mistral Medium 3?

Llama 3.1 8B Turbo: $0.01/1M input, $0.02/1M output. Mistral Medium 3: $0.04/1M input, $0.08/1M output. Both available on XALEN with batch processing at 50% discount.

Can I use both models on XALEN?

Yes. XALEN provides 200+ models through a single OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between Llama 3.1 8B Turbo and Mistral Medium 3 by changing the model parameter. No code changes needed.

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Last updated: 2026-05-21. Pricing and specifications may change. Check pricing page for latest rates.