Mistral / Mixtral

Best compact MoE — Apache 2.0

Mistral AI, based in Paris, produces the best compact Mixture-of-Experts models under Apache 2.0. Mixtral 8x7B activates only 2 experts per token, delivering near-70B performance at 13B inference cost. A top pick for European-based teams wanting strong open models with EU-friendly provenance.

FREE TIER: Apache 2.0; 7B–8x7B
COMPANY: Mistral AI
CATEGORY: Open-Source Models › Large Language Models
OPEN SOURCE: Yes
PRIVACY: European
TAGS: llmmoe

QUICK START

Run 'ollama run mixtral' for the MoE model locally → Or use Mistral 7B for a lighter single-GPU option → Deploy with vLLM or TGI for production serving

BEST FOR

▸European teams needing powerful, open LLMs with EU-friendly provenance.
▸Developers seeking 70B-class performance at 13B inference cost.
▸Teams building custom apps on flexible, fully open-source Apache 2.0 LLMs.

NOT FOR

✕Users seeking fully managed, zero-setup AI services without self-hosting.
✕Non-technical users seeking a ready-to-use, no-code AI application.

◈ TYPICALLY PAIRED WITH

Tools that appear alongside Mistral / Mixtral in AIArsenal's curated stacks.

Ollama

Run 100+ LLMs locally from the terminal — completely free

CLI Tools

Continue.dev

Open-source AI code assistant — bring your own model (local or cloud)

Developer Tools

Llama 3.x

Best all-around open LLM — 8B to 405B

Open-Source

Stable Diffusion