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Grok-3 Mini vs Mistral NeMo Instruct

Grok-3 Mini leads the LLM Stats Score 31.6 to -5.0. Mistral NeMo Instruct is 2.3x cheaper per token.

xAI · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Grok-3 Mini leads the overall LLM Stats Score 31.6 to -5.0, ranking #103 overall.

On price, Mistral NeMo Instruct is roughly 2.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Grok-3 Mini

  • overall performance matters — it scores 31.6 and ranks #103 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2025

Choose Mistral NeMo Instruct

  • cost matters — it's about 2.3x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Grok-3 Mini
xAI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
31.6
#103
-5.0
#343
Reasoning
31.2
#102
-5.2
#334
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.30 / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
$0.50 / M
$0.15 / M
Context window
128,000
128,000

Individual benchmarks

4 reported for Grok-3 Mini · 8 for Mistral NeMo Instruct

No common benchmarks found

Grok-3 Mini and Mistral NeMo Instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mistral NeMo Instruct costs less

For input processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.30/1M tokens) is 2.0x more expensive than Mistral NeMo Instruct ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.50/1M tokens) is 3.3x more expensive than Mistral NeMo Instruct ($0.15/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Grok-3 Mini is more expensive than Mistral NeMo Instruct.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Sep 07 2026 • llm-stats.com
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerxAI
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$0.15
Best providerGoogle
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. Mistral NeMo 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
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mon Sep 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Grok-3 Mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral NeMo 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

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-3 Mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Mistral NeMo Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17, while Mistral NeMo Instruct was released on 2024-07-18.

Grok-3 Mini is 7 months newer than Mistral NeMo Instruct.

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.6 years ago

7mo newer
Mistral NeMo Instruct

Jul 18, 2024

2.1 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Mistral NeMo 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 Mistral NeMo Instruct's cutoff date.

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

Mistral NeMo Instruct

—

Provider Availability

Grok-3 Mini is available from xAI. Mistral NeMo Instruct is available from Google, Mistral AI.

Grok-3 Mini

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.50/1M

Mistral NeMo Instruct

google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.15/1M
mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.15/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-3 Mini and Mistral NeMo Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-3 Mini
✓ Preferred
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Mistral NeMo Instruct.

Which is better, Grok-3 Mini or Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini leads the LLM Stats Score 31.6 to -5.0. Grok-3 Mini is made by xAI and Mistral NeMo Instruct 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 Grok-3 Mini compare to Mistral NeMo Instruct in benchmarks?

Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%. Mistral NeMo Instruct scores HellaSwag: 83.5%, Winogrande: 76.8%, TriviaQA: 73.8%, CommonSenseQA: 70.4%, MMLU: 68.0%.

Is Grok-3 Mini cheaper than Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Mistral NeMo Instruct is 2.0x cheaper for input tokens. Grok-3 Mini costs $0.30/M input and $0.50/M output via xai. Mistral NeMo Instruct costs $0.15/M input and $0.15/M output via google.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-3 Mini and Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini supports 128K tokens and Mistral NeMo 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 Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (31.6 vs -5.0), input pricing ($0.30 vs $0.15/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-3 Mini and Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Grok-3 Mini is developed by xAI and Mistral NeMo Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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