Devstral Small 2 24B vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Devstral Small 2 24B scores higher on the intelligence index, 8 against 7. The cheapest machine here that runs Devstral Small 2 24B is the Framework Desktop, 32GB, at $1,269. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct runs on the Mac mini M6, 16GB at $899, $370 less. On the Framework Desktop, 32GB, the cheapest machine here that runs both, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is about 2.2× quicker: 21 tok/s against 9.7, both estimated from memory bandwidth. At 500k tokens a day the Framework Desktop, 32GB pays for itself in 2,883 years running Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, and never running Devstral Small 2 24B.

Run Devstral Small 2 24B on the Framework Desktop, 32GB · or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct on the Mac mini M6, 16GB

Jump to: Side by side on the Framework Desktop, 32GB · How much use it takes to pay for the machine · Machines that run one and not the other · The assumptions behind both columns

Side by side on the Framework Desktop, 32GB

The table above gives each model the cheapest machine that runs it, and those are two different machines, so nothing in it is a like-for-like race. The Strix Halo Framework Desktop, 32GB is the cheapest machine here that runs both, so this is the pair doing the same work on the same hardware.

Run Devstral Small 2 24B on the Framework Desktop, 32GB · or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

How much use it takes to pay for the machine

Everything above is at 500k tokens a day. Pay-back moves with how much you actually run, so here are both models at the five levels of use the calculator names, on the Framework Desktop, 32GB. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct pays for it sooner at every level of use: Devstral Small 2 24B never pays for it at all.

The Framework Desktop, 32GB generates at most 13.5M tokens a day on Devstral Small 2 24B, so that column's figure at 20M tokens a day is for the most it can do, not for the whole of what was asked.

Run Devstral Small 2 24B at 20M tokens a day · or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Machines that run one and not the other

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct needs 9.2 GB of memory at 32k of context and Devstral Small 2 24B needs 20 GB. That puts Llama 3.1 8B Instruct on 7 of the 37 machines priced here that Devstral Small 2 24B does not, starting at $899.

1 more, on the Llama 3.1 8B Instruct page.

Devstral Small 2 24B is also head to head with LFM2.5 2.6B above it on the leaderboard and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct, the last-generation Mistral nearest it in size. Two more models need much the same memory: GLM-4.7-Flash and Gemma 3 27B it. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is also head to head with Qwen3 32B below it on the leaderboard. One more model needs much the same memory: Ministral 3 8B.

The assumptions behind both columns

Both columns use the same usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k of context, $0.17 per kWh, and today's API prices held flat. Speeds marked estimated are worked out from memory bandwidth rather than measured, and pay-back scales with them. Where nobody rents an open model by the token, its API prices are the nearest hosted model's, named beside them. Machines are the 37 here with a published price that are still sold. Change any of it in the calculator.

More head to head: every machine that runs Devstral Small 2 24B · every machine that runs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct · every other match-up · both against the frontier · the quickest pay-back at each level of use