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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Ministral 3 8B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 comes out ahead, 78 to 68 on our weighted score, though Ministral 3 8B is 29% cheaper per token.

  1. Mistral AI

    Ministral 3 8B

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    68/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 3 8B
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    78/100
    • ECI133.8
    • Price$0.12 / $0.48
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Ministral 3 8B (68). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Ministral 3 8B 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 priceMinistral 3 8BMinistral 3 8B $0.15 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 $0.21 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 1,048,576 · Ministral 3 8B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Ministral 3 8B: Text, Images · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingMinistral 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMinistral 3 8BGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17
Price50%8579
Inputs & features30%6090
Context window20%3761
Overall100%68/10078/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Ministral 3 8B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 specifications side by side
SpecificationMinistral 3 8BMistral AIGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Google
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—133.8
ECI rank—#132 of 165
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15$0.12 (best)
Output$0.15 (best)$0.48
Cached input$0.015—
Blended (3:1)$0.15 (best)$0.21
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output262,144 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoYes
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0Proprietary
API model IDministral-8b-2512—
API providers11 (best)2
ReleasedDec 2, 2025Jun 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 2025
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.

  • Ministral 3 8B$1.80
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17$2.16
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Ministral 3 8B or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Ministral 3 8B (68). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Ministral 3 8B 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 8B or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17?

Ministral 3 8B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 costs $0.12 input / $0.48 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Ministral 3 8B versus $0.21 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 (1.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Ministral 3 8B has not been scored yet and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 has an ECI of 133.8.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 8B and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Ministral 3 8B. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3 8B up to 262,144, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Ministral 3 8B accepts text and images; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Ministral 3 8B publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Ministral 3 8B is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 Jan 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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