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Claude Opus 4.6 vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 44.9 to 16.5. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is 66.7x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 44.9 to 16.5, ranking #34 overall.

In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude Opus 4.6 wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is roughly 66.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Opus 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Opus 4.6

  • overall performance matters — it scores 44.9 and ranks #34 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

Choose Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

  • cost matters — it's about 66.7x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Opus 4.6
Anthropic
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
44.9
#34
16.5
#222
Reasoning
45.4
#29
16.6
#214
Coding
32.8
#38
9.0
#177
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 2
0 of 2
Input price
$5.00 / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
$25.00 / M
$0.15 / M
Context window
1,000,000
262,100

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Claude Opus 4.6
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Math
40.1#16
17.1#198
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

27 reported for Claude Opus 4.6 · 4 for Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

2 shared

Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA), while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Sep 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 33.3x more expensive than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 166.7x more expensive than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) ($0.15/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.6 is more expensive than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512).*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Sep 21 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$0.15
Best providerMistral
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Opus 4.6 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)'s 262,100 tokens. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) can generate longer responses up to 262,100 tokens, while Claude Opus 4.6 is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Input262,100 tokens
Output262,100 tokens
Mon Sep 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Claude Opus 4.6 and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Opus 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Opus 4.6 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Opus 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.6 was released on 2026-02-05, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) was released on 2025-12-04.

Claude Opus 4.6 is 2 months newer than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512).

Claude Opus 4.6

Feb 5, 2026

7 months ago

2mo newer
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Dec 4, 2025

9 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4.6 is available from Anthropic. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is available from Mistral AI.

Claude Opus 4.6

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.15/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4.6 and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 4.6
✓ Preferred
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512).

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 44.9 to 16.5. Claude Opus 4.6 is made by Anthropic and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Claude Opus 4.6 compare to Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.6 scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.8%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Graphwalks parents >128k: 95.4%, Tau2 Retail: 91.9%. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) scores AIME 2024: 86.0%, AIME 2025: 78.7%, GPQA: 66.8%, LiveCodeBench: 61.6%.

Is Claude Opus 4.6 cheaper than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is 33.3x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) costs $0.15/M input and $0.15/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.6 and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

Claude Opus 4.6 supports 1.0M tokens and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Opus 4.6 and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (44.9 vs 16.5), context window (1.0M vs 262K), input pricing ($5.00 vs $0.15/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 4.6 and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

Claude Opus 4.6 is developed by Anthropic and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is developed by Mistral AI.

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