Llama 3.1 8B Turbo vs Pixtral 12B

Compare Llama 3.1 8B Turbo and Pixtral 12B: pricing, performance, context window, latency, and best use cases. Side-by-side comparison on XALEN.

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

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Feature Llama 3.1 8B Turbo Pixtral 12B
CategoryCompactVision
Parameters8B12B
Context Window128K128K
Input Price$0.01/1M tokens$0.02/1M tokens
Output Price$0.02/1M tokens$0.04/1M tokens
Latency~60ms~200ms

Choose Llama 3.1 8B Turbo when:

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

Extremely fast, Very low cost, 128K context

Choose Pixtral 12B when:

  • ✓ Simple image tasks
  • ✓ Classification
  • ✓ OCR
Key Strengths:

Low cost vision, Fast, Compact

Verdict: Llama 3.1 8B Turbo vs Pixtral 12B

For cost efficiency, Llama 3.1 8B Turbo wins at $0.01/1M input tokens. For speed, Pixtral 12B is faster at ~200ms. Llama 3.1 8B Turbo excels at Intent classification while Pixtral 12B is better for Simple image tasks. 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. Pixtral 12B costs $0.02 input and $0.04 output. Llama 3.1 8B Turbo is 2.0x 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. Pixtral 12B offers 128K context at ~200ms. Both have identical context windows.

Best For

Llama 3.1 8B Turbo (Compact) is optimized for: Intent classification, Content filtering, Simple Q&A. Pixtral 12B (Vision) works best for: Simple image tasks, Classification, OCR.

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 Pixtral 12B
response_b = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="pixtral-12b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

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Get API Key Try in Playground

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Llama 3.1 8B Turbo or Pixtral 12B?

Llama 3.1 8B Turbo (Compact, 8B) offers Extremely fast. Pixtral 12B (Vision, 12B) offers Low cost vision. Choose Llama 3.1 8B Turbo for Intent classification or Pixtral 12B for Simple image tasks.

How much does Llama 3.1 8B Turbo cost vs Pixtral 12B?

Llama 3.1 8B Turbo: $0.01/1M input, $0.02/1M output. Pixtral 12B: $0.02/1M input, $0.04/1M 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 Pixtral 12B 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.