Grok-3 Mini vs Mistral NeMo Instruct
Grok-3 Mini leads the LLM Stats Score 31.3 to -4.8. Mistral NeMo Instruct is 16.1x cheaper per token.
xAI · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Grok-3 Mini leads the overall LLM Stats Score 31.3 to -4.8, ranking #111 overall.
On price, Mistral NeMo Instruct is roughly 16.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Mistral NeMo Instruct also accepts a larger context window (131,072 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
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 #111 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 16.1x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
4 reported for Grok-3 Mini · 8 for Mistral NeMo Instruct
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
For input processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.30/1M tokens) is 15.8x more expensive than Mistral NeMo Instruct ($0.02/1M tokens).
For output processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.50/1M tokens) is 16.7x more expensive than Mistral NeMo Instruct ($0.03/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Grok-3 Mini is more expensive than Mistral NeMo Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Mistral NeMo Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to Grok-3 Mini's 128,000 tokens. Mistral NeMo Instruct can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Grok-3 Mini is limited to 8,000 tokens.
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
Mistral NeMo Instruct
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.
Proprietary
Closed source
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.
Feb 17, 2025
1.6 years ago
7mo newerJul 18, 2024
2.2 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.
Nov 2024
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Provider Availability
Grok-3 Mini is available from xAI. Mistral NeMo Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Google, Mistral AI.
Grok-3 Mini
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Outputs Comparison
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.
FAQ
Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Mistral NeMo Instruct.