Model Comparison

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) vs Qwen3 30B A3BWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) and Qwen3 30B A3B across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) vs Qwen3 30B A3B — which is better?

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3 30B A3B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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.

Choose Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) if…

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

Choose Qwen3 30B A3B if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.10/M input and $0.30/M output

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) and Qwen3 30B A3Bdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

22.5B diff

Qwen3 30B A3B has 22.5B more parameters than Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512), making it 281.3% larger.

Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512)
8.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 30B A3B
30.5Bparameters
8.0B
Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512)
30.5B
Qwen3 30B A3B

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3 30B A3B specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Qwen3 30B A3B specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512)
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 30B A3B
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 30B A3B does not.

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 30B A3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512)

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3 30B A3B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) was released on 2025-12-04, while Qwen3 30B A3B was released on 2025-04-29.

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) is 7 months newer than Qwen3 30B A3B.

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512)

Dec 4, 2025

7 months ago

7mo newer
Qwen3 30B A3B

Apr 29, 2025

1.2 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Supports multimodal inputs
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3 30B A3B

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (128,000 tokens)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) and Qwen3 30B A3B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512)
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 30B A3B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 30B A3B

FAQ

Common questions about Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) vs Qwen3 30B A3B.

Which is better, Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) or Qwen3 30B A3B?

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) (Mistral AI) and Qwen3 30B A3B (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) compare to Qwen3 30B A3B in benchmarks?

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) scores MMLU-Redux: 79.3%, MMLU: 76.1%, Multilingual MMLU: 70.6%, TriviaQA: 68.1%, MATH (CoT): 62.6%. Qwen3 30B A3B scores Arena Hard: 91.0%, AIME 2024: 80.4%, LiveBench: 74.3%, Multi-IF: 72.2%, AIME 2025: 70.9%.

What are the context window sizes for Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) and Qwen3 30B A3B?

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3 30B A3B 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 Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) and Qwen3 30B A3B?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) and Qwen3 30B A3B?

Ministral 3 (8B Base 2512) is developed by Mistral AI and Qwen3 30B A3B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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