GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)
GPT-3.5 Turbo and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) are closely matched at -9.4 and -6.4 on the LLM Stats Score.
OpenAI · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
GPT-3.5 Turbo and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -9.4 and -6.4.
In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo
- you want predictable pricing at $0.50/M input and $1.50/M output
Choose Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
8 reported for GPT-3.5 Turbo · 6 for Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)
GPT-3.5 Turbo outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU).
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only GPT-3.5 Turbo specifies input context (16,385 tokens). Only GPT-3.5 Turbo specifies output context (4,096 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) supports multimodal inputs, whereas GPT-3.5 Turbo does not.
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)
License
Usage and distribution terms
GPT-3.5 Turbo is licensed under a proprietary license, while Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
GPT-3.5 Turbo was released on 2023-03-21, while Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) was released on 2025-12-04.
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) is 33 months newer than GPT-3.5 Turbo.
Mar 21, 2023
3.5 years ago
Dec 4, 2025
10 months ago
2.7yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-3.5 Turbo has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2021-09-30, while Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)'s cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm GPT-3.5 Turbo's training data extends to 2021-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)'s cutoff date.
Sep 2021
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Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against GPT-3.5 Turbo and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512).