Model Comparison

Grok-3 Mini vs Ministral 8B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Grok-3 Mini and Ministral 8B Instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Grok-3 Mini vs Ministral 8B Instruct — which is better?

Grok-3 Mini (by xAI) 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.

On price, Ministral 8B Instruct is roughly 3.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Choose Grok-3 Mini if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2025

Choose Ministral 8B Instruct if…

  • cost matters — it's about 3.5x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Grok-3 Mini and Ministral 8B Instruct don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Ministral 8B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.30/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Ministral 8B Instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.50/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Ministral 8B Instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Grok-3 Mini is more expensive than Ministral 8B Instruct.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Jun 06 2026 • llm-stats.com
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerxAI
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.10
Best providerMistral
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

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 Grok-3 Mini is limited to 8,000 tokens.

xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sat Jun 06 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-3 Mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Ministral 8B Instruct 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

Ministral 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-3 Mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Ministral 8B Instruct uses Mistral Research License.

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

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Ministral 8B Instruct

Mistral Research License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17, while Ministral 8B Instruct was released on 2024-10-16.

Grok-3 Mini is 4 months newer than Ministral 8B Instruct.

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.3 years ago

4mo newer
Ministral 8B Instruct

Oct 16, 2024

1.6 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Ministral 8B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3 Mini's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without Ministral 8B Instruct's cutoff date.

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

Ministral 8B Instruct

—

Provider Availability

Grok-3 Mini is available from xAI. Ministral 8B Instruct is available from Mistral AI.

Grok-3 Mini

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput 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

xAI
Supports multimodal inputs
Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights
xAIGrok-3 Mini
Mistral AIMinistral 8B Instruct
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Mistral AI
Ministral 8B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Ministral 8B Instruct.

Which is better, Grok-3 Mini or Ministral 8B Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini (xAI) and Ministral 8B Instruct (Mistral AI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Grok-3 Mini compare to Ministral 8B Instruct in benchmarks?

Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%. 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 Grok-3 Mini cheaper than Ministral 8B Instruct?

Ministral 8B Instruct is 3.0x cheaper for input tokens. Grok-3 Mini costs $0.30/M input and $0.50/M output via xai. Ministral 8B Instruct costs $0.10/M input and $0.10/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-3 Mini and Ministral 8B Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini 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 Grok-3 Mini and Ministral 8B Instruct?

Key differences include input pricing ($0.30 vs $0.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Mistral Research License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-3 Mini and Ministral 8B Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini is developed by xAI and Ministral 8B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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