Ministral 3 3B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Seed 2.0 Mini
Seed 2.0 Mini comes out ahead, 80 to 74 and 71 on our weighted score, though Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is 9% cheaper per token.
Mistral AIMinistral 3 3B
74/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context262K
NVIDIANemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.20
- Context262K
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.0 Mini
80/100- ECI—
- Price$0.03 / $0.297
- Context256K
Seed 2.0 Mini is our pick
Seed 2.0 Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Ministral 3 3B (74) and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (71). It leads on inputs & features. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B wins on price. 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 priceNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B $0.087 · Seed 2.0 Mini $0.097 · Ministral 3 3B $0.10 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMinistral 3 3B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BMinistral 3 3B 262,144 · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Seed 2.0 Mini 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.0 MiniMinistral 3 3B: Text, Images · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Seed 2.0 Mini: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingMinistral 3 3B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 3 3B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B | Seed 2.0 Mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 97 | 100 | 98 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 45 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 74/100 | 71/100 | 80/100 |
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 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIA | Seed 2.0 MiniByteDance Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 | $0.05 | $0.03 (best) |
| Output | $0.10 (best) | $0.20 | $0.297 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.0059 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.10 | $0.087 (best) | $0.097 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.059 / $0.594 |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Median of 9 providers | Official Volcengine Ark API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 32,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache 2.0 | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b | doubao-seed-2-0-mini-260428 |
| API providers | 1 | 12 (best) | 8 |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Aug 11, 2026 | Feb 14, 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
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.90
- Seed 2.0 Mini$0.891
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 3 3B, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Seed 2.0 Mini?
Seed 2.0 Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Ministral 3 3B (74) and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (71). It leads on inputs & features. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B wins on price. 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, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Seed 2.0 Mini?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers; free on Nvidia). Seed 2.0 Mini costs $0.03 input / $0.297 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price); Ministral 3 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.087 per million tokens for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B versus $0.097 for Seed 2.0 Mini (1.1× as much) and $0.10 for Ministral 3 3B (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Ministral 3 3B has not been scored yet, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has not been scored yet and Seed 2.0 Mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 3B, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Seed 2.0 Mini 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?
Ministral 3 3B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 256,000 for Seed 2.0 Mini. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3 3B up to 262,144, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Seed 2.0 Mini up to 32,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 3 3B accepts text and images; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Seed 2.0 Mini accepts text, images and video. Seed 2.0 Mini handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Ministral 3 3B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Seed 2.0 Mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the newest, released Aug 11, 2026. Seed 2.0 Mini came out Feb 14, 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.
