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Grok-3 Mini vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Grok-3 Mini leads the LLM Stats Score 31.3 to 19.1.

xAI · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Grok-3 Mini leads the overall LLM Stats Score 31.3 to 19.1, ranking #114 overall.

In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Grok-3 Mini wins 3; 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 Grok-3 Mini

  • overall performance matters — it scores 31.3 and ranks #114 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 3 exact shared results

Choose Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Grok-3 Mini
xAI
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
NVIDIA
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
31.3
#114
19.1
#209
Reasoning
30.9
#115
18.8
#208
Coding
18.7
#113
12.4
#149
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
3 of 3
0 of 3
Input price
$0.30 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.50 / M
— / M
Context window
128,000
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Grok-3 Mini
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Math
28.3#94
15.6#215
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

4 reported for Grok-3 Mini · 6 for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

3 shared

Grok-3 Mini outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok-3 Mini specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Grok-3 Mini specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Grok-3 Mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 does not.

Grok-3 Mini can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok-3 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-3 Mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 uses Llama 3.1 Community License.

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

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 was released on 2025-04-07.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is 2 months newer than Grok-3 Mini.

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.6 years ago

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Apr 7, 2025

1.5 years ago

1mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has a cutoff of 2023-12-01.

Grok-3 Mini has more recent training data (up to 2024-11-17), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 (2023-12-01).

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

11 mo newer
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-3 Mini and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-3 Mini
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1.

Which is better, Grok-3 Mini or Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

Grok-3 Mini leads the LLM Stats Score 31.3 to 19.1. Grok-3 Mini is made by xAI and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Grok-3 Mini compare to Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 in benchmarks?

Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 scores MATH-500: 97.0%, IFEval: 89.5%, GPQA: 76.0%, BFCL v2: 74.1%, AIME 2025: 72.5%.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-3 Mini and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

Grok-3 Mini supports 128K tokens and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-3 Mini and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (31.3 vs 19.1), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Llama 3.1 Community License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-3 Mini and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

Grok-3 Mini is developed by xAI and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is developed by NVIDIA.

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