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Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) vs Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) leads the LLM Stats Score 29.6 to 16.0.

Mistral AI · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) leads the overall LLM Stats Score 29.6 to 16.0, ranking #146 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

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

Choose Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $0.15/M output

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

  • overall performance matters — it scores 29.6 and ranks #146 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Mistral AI
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
NVIDIA
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
16.0
#248
29.6
#146
Reasoning
16.1
#240
28.9
#146
Coding
8.8
#199
14.4
#154
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
$0.15 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.15 / M
— / M
Context window
262,100
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Math
17.1#209
23.4#140
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

4 reported for Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) · 10 for Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

1 shared

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Oct 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

66.0B diff

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) has 66.0B more parameters than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512), making it 825.0% larger.

Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
8.0Bparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
74.0Bparameters
8.0B
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
74.0B
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) specifies input context (262,100 tokens). Only Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) specifies output context (262,100 tokens).

Mistral AI
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Input262,100 tokens
Output262,100 tokens
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Oct 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) uses OpenMDW License v1.1.

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

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

OpenMDW License v1.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) was released on 2025-12-04, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) was released on 2026-10-15.

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is 11 months newer than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512).

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

Dec 4, 2025

10 months ago

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Oct 15, 2026

1 weeks ago

10mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-05-01, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)'s cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)'s training data extends to 2026-05-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)'s cutoff date.

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)

—

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

May 2026

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
✓ Preferred
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) vs Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB).

Which is better, Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) or Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) leads the LLM Stats Score 29.6 to 16.0. Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is made by Mistral AI and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) compare to Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) in benchmarks?

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) scores AIME 2024: 86.0%, AIME 2025: 78.7%, GPQA: 66.8%, LiveCodeBench: 61.6%. Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) scores PinchBench: 87.8%, GPQA: 86.4%, BrowseComp: 66.8%, AA-LCR: 64.1%, MCP Atlas: 52.2%.

What are the context window sizes for Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) supports 262K tokens and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) supports an unknown number of 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 Reasoning 2512) and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (16.0 vs 29.6), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs OpenMDW License v1.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is developed by Mistral AI and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is developed by NVIDIA.

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