The AI arena is free today

Open Superagent

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 vs Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) leads the LLM Stats Score 11.2 to 4.8.

NVIDIA · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) leads the overall LLM Stats Score 11.2 to 4.8, ranking #263 overall.

The models split the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models evenly.

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

Choose Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

  • you are already invested in the NVIDIA ecosystem

Choose Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)

  • overall performance matters — it scores 11.2 and ranks #263 on LLM Stats
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
NVIDIA
Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
4.8
#304
11.2
#263
Reasoning
5.3
#299
11.4
#258
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 2
1 of 2
Input price
— / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.10 / M
Context window
—
131,100

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)
Math
8.8#258
12.8#232
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

7 reported for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 · 4 for Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)

2 shared

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025).

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.

Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

5.0B diff

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 has 5.0B more parameters than Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512), making it 166.7% larger.

NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
8.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)
3.0Bparameters
8.0B
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
3.0B
Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) specifies input context (131,100 tokens). Only Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) specifies output context (131,100 tokens).

NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)
Input131,100 tokens
Output131,100 tokens
Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 does not.

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) uses Apache 2.0.

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

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 was released on 2025-03-18, while Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) was released on 2025-12-04.

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) is 9 months newer than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Mar 18, 2025

1.5 years ago

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)

Dec 4, 2025

9 months ago

8mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)'s cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)'s cutoff date.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Dec 2023

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)

—

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 and Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
✓ Preferred
Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 vs Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512).

Which is better, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 or Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)?

Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) leads the LLM Stats Score 11.2 to 4.8. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is made by NVIDIA and Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) 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 Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 compare to Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) in benchmarks?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 scores MATH-500: 95.4%, MBPP: 84.6%, MT-Bench: 81.0%, IFEval: 79.3%, BFCL v2: 63.6%. Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) scores AIME 2024: 77.5%, AIME 2025: 72.1%, LiveCodeBench: 54.8%, GPQA: 53.4%.

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 and Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 supports an unknown number of tokens and Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 and Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (4.8 vs 11.2), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Llama 3.1 Community License vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 and Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512)?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is developed by NVIDIA and Min istral 3 (3B Reasoning 2512) is developed by Mistral AI.

Related comparisons