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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4o mini vs Ministral 8B Instruct

GPT-4o mini comes out ahead, 51 to 42 on our weighted score, though Ministral 8B Instruct is 43% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4o mini

    Released Jul 18, 2024

    51/100
    • ECI126.6
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o mini

  2. Mistral AI

    Ministral 8B Instruct

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    42/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 8B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-4o mini is our pick

GPT-4o mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Ministral 8B Instruct wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityGPT-4o miniShared benchmarks: GPT-4o mini 37.7% · Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%
  • Lowest priceMinistral 8B InstructMinistral 8B Instruct $0.15 · GPT-4o mini $0.263 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMinistral 8B InstructMinistral 8B Instruct 131,072 · GPT-4o mini 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Ministral 8B Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingMinistral 8B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Mistral Research License)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4o miniMinistral 8B Instruct
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%3827
Price25%7789
Inputs & features15%7025
Context window10%2424
Overall100%51/10042/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GPT-4o mini vs Ministral 8B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4o miniOpenAIMinistral 8B InstructMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)126.6—
ECI rank#135 of 148—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions37.7% (best)27.2%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics0.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics6.9%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions8.3%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15$0.15
Output$0.60$0.15 (best)
Cached input$0.075—
Blended (3:1)$0.263$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenMistral Research License
API model IDgpt-4o-mini—
API providers21 (best)1
ReleasedJul 18, 2024Oct 16, 2024
Knowledge cutoffSep 2023—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GPT-4o mini$2.70
  • Ministral 8B Instruct$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4o mini or Ministral 8B Instruct?

GPT-4o mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Ministral 8B Instruct wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4o mini or Ministral 8B Instruct?

Ministral 8B Instruct is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). GPT-4o mini costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Ministral 8B Instruct versus $0.263 for GPT-4o mini (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond): GPT-4o mini 37.7% and Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4o mini 37.7%, Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4o mini and Ministral 8B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4o mini leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Ministral 8B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-4o mini. Maximum output per response: GPT-4o mini up to 16,384, Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4o mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Ministral 8B Instruct accepts text. GPT-4o mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Ministral 8B Instruct publishes its weights (Mistral Research License) and can be self-hosted; GPT-4o mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Ministral 8B Instruct is the newest, released Oct 16, 2024. GPT-4o mini came out Jul 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4o mini Sep 2023.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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