# Llama 3.2 3B vs Mistral Medium 3.1

> Mistral Medium 3.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 31.9 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 6.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Mistral Medium 3.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/llama-3-2-3b-vs-mistral-medium-3-1
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 1

## Summary

- They share 1 benchmark with published results for both. Llama 3.2 3B scores higher in 1 category and Mistral Medium 3.1 in 1 category; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Mistral Medium 3.1 leads 55.5 to 24.7.
- Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.33 per million input/output tokens, against $0.40 / $2 for Mistral Medium 3.1.
- Llama 3.2 3B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | Mistral AI |
| Noometry Index | 28.9 | 31.9 |
| Rank | 321 | 266 |
| Context | 131K | 131K |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $0.40 |
| Output $/M | $0.33 | $2 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Llama 3.2 3B: 27.6 (#319)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 23.4% | — |
| LMArena Coding | 1098 | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 28.3% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Llama 3.2 3B: 20.1 (#143)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 21.9% | — |
| BALROG | 10.1% | — |

## Reasoning

- Llama 3.2 3B: 21.0 (#228)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: 10.6 (#341)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 6.5% |
| Thematic Generalization | — | 20.3% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1095 | — |

## Math

- Llama 3.2 3B: 32.4 (#214)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1126 | — |

## Knowledge

- Llama 3.2 3B: 29.7 (#235)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1090 | — |

## Multilingual

- Llama 3.2 3B: 26.2 (#281)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1019 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1017 | — |
| LMArena German | 1056 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 949 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Llama 3.2 3B: 56.0 (#275)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1089 | — |

## Long Context

- Llama 3.2 3B: 33.4 (#261)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1100 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Llama 3.2 3B: 24.7 (#307)
- Mistral Medium 3.1: 55.5 (#145)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Mistral Medium 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 595 | 1476 |
| LMArena Text | 1110 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1094 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1105 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Llama 3.2 3B better than Mistral Medium 3.1?

Mistral Medium 3.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 31.9 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 6.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Mistral Medium 3.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Llama 3.2 3B or Mistral Medium 3.1?

Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.33 per million output tokens; Mistral Medium 3.1 lists at $0.40 and $2.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Both accept 131K tokens.

### How many benchmarks do Llama 3.2 3B and Mistral Medium 3.1 share?

1 benchmark has published results for both models. Llama 3.2 3B has 18 scored results on Noometry and Mistral Medium 3.1 has 3.