| Signal | Ministral 3 8B 2512 | Delta | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 67 | +17 | |
Pricing | 100 | +2 | |
Context window size | 86 | +10 | |
Recency | 100 | +54 | |
Output Capacity | 20 | -50 | |
Benchmarks | 0 | -73 | |
| Overall Result | 4 wins | of 6 | 2 wins |
Score History
40
current score
R1
right now
73
current score
Mistral AI
DeepSeek
Ministral 3 8B 2512 saves you $172.50/month
That's $2070.00/year compared to R1 at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Ministral 3 8B 2512 | R1 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 40 | 73 | R1 |
| Rank | #234 | #76 | R1 |
| Quality Rank | #234 | #76 | R1 |
| Adoption Rank | #234 | #76 | R1 |
| Parameters | 8B | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 262K | 64K | Ministral 3 8B 2512 |
| Pricing | $0.15/$0.15/M | $0.70/$2.50/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 67 | 50 | Ministral 3 8B 2512 |
| Pricing | 100 | 98 | Ministral 3 8B 2512 |
| Context window size | 86 | 76 | Ministral 3 8B 2512 |
| Recency | 100 | 46 | Ministral 3 8B 2512 |
| Output Capacity | 20 | 70 | R1 |
| Benchmarks | -- | 73 | R1 |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 40/100 (rank #234), placing it in the top 20% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 73/100 (rank #76), placing it in the top 74% of all 290 models tracked.
R1 has a 33-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably stronger performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.
Ministral 3 8B 2512 offers 91% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $4.50/month with Ministral 3 8B 2512 vs $48.00/month with R1 - a $43.50 monthly difference.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Ministral 3 8B 2512 also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (262K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.15/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (73/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
R1 clearly outperforms Ministral 3 8B 2512 with a significant 33-point lead. For most general use cases, R1 is the stronger choice. However, Ministral 3 8B 2512 may still excel in niche scenarios.
Best for Quality
Ministral 3 8B 2512
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Ministral 3 8B 2512
91% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Ministral 3 8B 2512
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Ministral 3 8B 2512
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Ministral 3 8B 2512
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by Mistral AI
| Capability | Ministral 3 8B 2512 | R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input)differs | ||
| Function Calling | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Modediffers | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Mistral AI
DeepSeek
Ministral 3 8B 2512 saves you $3.81/month
That's 89% cheaper than R1 at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | Ministral 3 8B 2512 | R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 262K | 64K |
| Max Output Tokens | -- | 16,000 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Dec 2, 2025 | Jan 20, 2025 |