Ministral 3 3B vs DeepSeek OCR 2
Ministral 3 3B comes out ahead, 74 to 32 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
Mistral AIMinistral 3 3B
74/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context262K
DeepSeekDeepSeek OCR 2
32/100- ECI—
- Price$0.89 / $1.47
- Context8K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Ministral 3 3B is our pick
Ministral 3 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against DeepSeek OCR 2 (32). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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 3 3BMinistral 3 3B $0.10 · DeepSeek OCR 2 $1.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMinistral 3 3BMinistral 3 3B 262,144 · DeepSeek OCR 2 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsMinistral 3 3B: Text, Images · DeepSeek OCR 2: Text, Images
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 3 3B | DeepSeek OCR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 97 | 49 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 74/100 | 32/100 |
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 3 3BMistral AI | DeepSeek OCR 2DeepSeek |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.10 (best) | $0.89 |
| Output | $0.10 (best) | $1.47 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.10 (best) | $1.03 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache 2.0 | Open |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 1 | 2 (best) |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Jan 27, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Ministral 3 3B$1.20
- DeepSeek OCR 2$11.83
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 3 3B or DeepSeek OCR 2?
Ministral 3 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against DeepSeek OCR 2 (32). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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 3 3B or DeepSeek OCR 2?
Ministral 3 3B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). DeepSeek OCR 2 costs $0.89 input / $1.47 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.10 per million tokens for Ministral 3 3B versus $1.03 for DeepSeek OCR 2 (10× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Ministral 3 3B has not been scored yet and DeepSeek OCR 2 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 3B and DeepSeek OCR 2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that DeepSeek OCR 2 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Ministral 3 3B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 8,192 for DeepSeek OCR 2. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3 3B up to 262,144, DeepSeek OCR 2 up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 3 3B accepts text and images; DeepSeek OCR 2 accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
DeepSeek OCR 2 is the newest, released Jan 27, 2026. Ministral 3 3B came out Dec 2, 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.
