Model Comparison

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Ministral 8B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Ministral 8B Instruct is 5.0x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Ministral 8B Instruct — which is better?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct (by IBM) and Ministral 8B Instruct (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct outperforms in 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MMLU), while Ministral 8B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (Arena Hard). Granite 3.3 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

On price, Ministral 8B Instruct is roughly 5.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Choose Granite 3.3 8B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025

Choose Ministral 8B Instruct if…

  • cost matters — it's about 5.0x cheaper per token

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct outperforms in 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MMLU), while Ministral 8B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (Arena Hard).

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Sat Aug 01 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Ministral 8B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Ministral 8B Instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Ministral 8B Instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is more expensive than Ministral 8B Instruct.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Aug 01 2026 • llm-stats.com
IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerReplicate
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.10
Best providerMistral
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

19.8M diff

Ministral 8B Instruct has 0.0B more parameters than Granite 3.3 8B Instruct, making it 0.2% larger.

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
8.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct
8.0Bparameters
8.0B
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
8.0B
Ministral 8B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Both models have the same input context window of 128,000 tokens. Ministral 8B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is limited to 8,192 tokens.

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sat Aug 01 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Ministral 8B Instruct does not.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Ministral 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Ministral 8B Instruct uses Mistral Research License.

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

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Ministral 8B Instruct

Mistral Research License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct was released on 2025-04-16, while Ministral 8B Instruct was released on 2024-10-16.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is 6 months newer than Ministral 8B Instruct.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

Apr 16, 2025

1.3 years ago

6mo newer
Ministral 8B Instruct

Oct 16, 2024

1.8 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

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

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

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

Apr 2024

Ministral 8B Instruct

—

Provider Availability

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is available from Replicate. Ministral 8B Instruct is available from Mistral AI.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

replicate logo
Replicate
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.50/1M

Ministral 8B Instruct

mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.10/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

IBM
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher HumanEval score (89.7% vs 34.8%)
Higher MMLU score (65.5% vs 65.0%)
Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Higher Arena Hard score (70.9% vs 57.6%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Ministral 8B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Ministral 8B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Ministral 8B Instruct.

Which is better, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct or Ministral 8B Instruct?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is made by IBM and Ministral 8B Instruct is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Granite 3.3 8B Instruct compare to Ministral 8B Instruct in benchmarks?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct scores HumanEval: 89.7%, AttaQ: 88.5%, HumanEval+: 86.1%, AIME 2024: 81.2%, GSM8k: 80.9%. Ministral 8B Instruct scores MT-Bench: 83.0%, Winogrande: 75.3%, ARC-C: 71.9%, Arena Hard: 70.9%, MBPP pass@1: 70.0%.

Is Granite 3.3 8B Instruct cheaper than Ministral 8B Instruct?

Ministral 8B Instruct is 5.0x cheaper for input tokens. Granite 3.3 8B Instruct costs $0.50/M input and $0.50/M output via replicate. Ministral 8B Instruct costs $0.10/M input and $0.10/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Ministral 8B Instruct?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Ministral 8B Instruct supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Ministral 8B Instruct?

Key differences include input pricing ($0.50 vs $0.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Mistral Research License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Ministral 8B Instruct?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is developed by IBM and Ministral 8B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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