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Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)

Granite 3.3 8B Base and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) are closely matched at -0.8 and -6.7 on the LLM Stats Score.

IBM · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Granite 3.3 8B Base and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -0.8 and -6.7.

In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) wins 2; 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 Granite 3.3 8B Base

  • you are already invested in the IBM ecosystem

Choose Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 3 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Granite 3.3 8B Base
IBM
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
-0.8
#353
-6.7
#387
Reasoning
-1.0
#347
-6.7
#376
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 3
2 of 3
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
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Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Granite 3.3 8B Base
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)
Math
-0.8#310
-0.8#310
Legal
-6.0#208
-1.6#196
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

20 reported for Granite 3.3 8B Base · 6 for Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)

3 shared

Granite 3.3 8B Base outperforms in 1 benchmarks (TriviaQA), while Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) is better at 2 benchmarks (AGIEval, MMLU).

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

Tue Oct 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

5.2B diff

Granite 3.3 8B Base has 5.2B more parameters than Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512), making it 172.3% larger.

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
8.2Bparameters
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)
3.0Bparameters
8.2B
Granite 3.3 8B Base
3.0B
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Granite 3.3 8B Base and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) support multimodal inputs.

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

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Granite 3.3 8B Base was released on 2025-04-16, while Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) was released on 2025-12-04.

Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) is 8 months newer than Granite 3.3 8B Base.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 16, 2025

1.5 years ago

Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)

Dec 4, 2025

10 months ago

7mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Granite 3.3 8B Base has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)'s cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Granite 3.3 8B Base's training data extends to 2024-04-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)'s cutoff date.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 2024

Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)

—

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Granite 3.3 8B Base and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Granite 3.3 8B Base
✓ Preferred
Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512).

Which is better, Granite 3.3 8B Base or Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)?

Granite 3.3 8B Base and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at -0.8 and -6.7. Granite 3.3 8B Base is made by IBM and Ministral 3 (3B Base 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 Granite 3.3 8B Base compare to Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) in benchmarks?

Granite 3.3 8B Base scores HumanEval: 89.7%, AttaQ: 88.5%, HumanEval+: 86.1%, AIME 2024: 81.2%, HellaSwag: 80.1%. Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) scores MMLU-Redux: 73.5%, MMLU: 70.7%, Multilingual MMLU: 65.2%, MATH (CoT): 60.1%, TriviaQA: 59.2%.

What are the main differences between Granite 3.3 8B Base and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (-0.8 vs -6.7). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Granite 3.3 8B Base and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512)?

Granite 3.3 8B Base is developed by IBM and Ministral 3 (3B Base 2512) is developed by Mistral AI.

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