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DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) are closely matched at 14.5 and 16.5 on the LLM Stats Score. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is 1.2x cheaper per token.

DeepSeek · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 14.5 and 16.5.

In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is roughly 1.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) also accepts a larger context window (262,100 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 DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output

Choose Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 3 exact shared results
  • cost matters — it's about 1.2x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 262,100 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
DeepSeek
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
14.5
#241
16.5
#228
Reasoning
14.7
#234
16.6
#220
Coding
8.6
#185
9.0
#183
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 3
2 of 3
Input price
$0.10 / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
$0.40 / M
$0.15 / M
Context window
128,000
262,100

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Math
16.5#204
17.1#199
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

4 reported for DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B · 4 for Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

3 shared

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2024), while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench).

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Wed Sep 23 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, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B ($0.10/1M tokens) is 1.5x cheaper than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B ($0.40/1M tokens) is 2.7x more expensive than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) ($0.15/1M tokens).

In conclusion, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B 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
Wed Sep 23 2026 • llm-stats.com
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerDeepinfra
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→

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

62.6B diff

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B has 62.6B more parameters than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512), making it 782.5% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
70.6Bparameters
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
8.0Bparameters
70.6B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
8.0B
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) accepts 262,100 input tokens compared to DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B's 128,000 tokens. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) can generate longer responses up to 262,100 tokens, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B is limited to 128,000 tokens.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Input262,100 tokens
Output262,100 tokens
Wed Sep 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B does not.

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B is licensed under MIT, 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.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B

MIT

Open weights

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B was released on 2025-01-20, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) was released on 2025-12-04.

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is 11 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B

Jan 20, 2025

1.7 years ago

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Dec 4, 2025

9 months ago

10mo newer

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

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B is available from DeepInfra. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is available from Mistral AI.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M

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 DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
✓ Preferred
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B vs Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512).

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B or Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 14.5 and 16.5. DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B is made by DeepSeek 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 DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B compare to Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B scores MATH-500: 94.5%, AIME 2024: 86.7%, GPQA: 65.2%, LiveCodeBench: 57.5%. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) scores AIME 2024: 86.0%, AIME 2025: 78.7%, GPQA: 66.8%, LiveCodeBench: 61.6%.

Is DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B cheaper than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B is 1.5x cheaper for input tokens. DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B costs $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output via deepinfra. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) costs $0.15/M input and $0.15/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B supports 128K 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 DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (14.5 vs 16.5), context window (128K vs 262K), input pricing ($0.10 vs $0.15/M), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B is developed by DeepSeek and Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is developed by Mistral AI.

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