Ministral 14B vs Mistral Large 3 vs Nova 2 Lite
Too close to call on our weighted score (Ministral 14B 64, Nova 2 Lite 62, Mistral Large 3 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Mistral AIMinistral 14B
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.20
- Context262K
- Mistral AI
Mistral Large 3
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context262K
AmazonNova 2 Lite
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.33 / $2.75
- Context1M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Ministral 14B 64/100, Nova 2 Lite 62/100, Mistral Large 3 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Ministral 14B on price and Nova 2 Lite for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceMinistral 14BMinistral 14B $0.20 · Mistral Large 3 $0.75 · Nova 2 Lite $0.935 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Ministral 14B 262,144 · Mistral Large 3 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsNova 2 LiteMinistral 14B: Text, Images · Mistral Large 3: Text, Images · Nova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingMinistral 14B and Mistral Large 3Publishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 14B | Mistral Large 3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 83 | 56 | 51 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 50 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 64/100 | 50/100 | 62/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Ministral 14BMistral AI | Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | Nova 2 LiteAmazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 (best) | $0.50 | $0.33 |
| Output | $0.20 (best) | $1.50 | $2.75 |
| Cached input | — | $0.05 (best) | $0.083 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.20 (best) | $0.75 | $0.935 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Mistral API | Official Amazon Bedrock API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yeslow · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | mistral-large-2512 | amazon.nova-2-lite-v1:0 |
| API providers | 1 | 13 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Nov 2024 | Oct 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Ministral 14B$2.40
- Mistral Large 3$8.00
- Nova 2 Lite$8.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 14B, Mistral Large 3 or Nova 2 Lite?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Ministral 14B 64/100, Nova 2 Lite 62/100, Mistral Large 3 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Ministral 14B on price and Nova 2 Lite for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Ministral 14B, Mistral Large 3 or Nova 2 Lite?
Ministral 14B is cheaper at $0.20 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Mistral Large 3 costs $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Nova 2 Lite costs $0.33 input / $2.75 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.20 per million tokens for Ministral 14B versus $0.75 for Mistral Large 3 (3.8× as much) and $0.935 for Nova 2 Lite (4.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Ministral 14B has not been scored yet, Mistral Large 3 has not been scored yet and Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 14B, Mistral Large 3 and Nova 2 Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Ministral 14B and 262,144 for Mistral Large 3. Maximum output per response: Ministral 14B up to 262,144, Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144, Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 14B accepts text and images; Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images; Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Ministral 14B and Mistral Large 3 publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Nova 2 Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Ministral 14B is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Mistral Large 3 came out Dec 2, 2025; Nova 2 Lite came out Dec 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 3 Nov 2024, Nova 2 Lite Oct 2025.
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.
