Ministral 3 8B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 68 on our weighted score, though Ministral 3 8B is 14% cheaper per token.
Mistral AIMinistral 3 8B
68/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context262K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
83/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 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 $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Ministral 3 8B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMinistral 3 8B: Text, Images · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingMinistral 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 3 8B | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 85 | 82 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 100 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 68/100 | 83/100 |
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 8BMistral AI | Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.15 | $0.10 (best) |
| Output | $0.15 (best) | $0.40 |
| Cached input | $0.015 | $0.01 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 (best) | $0.175 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Official Google API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache 2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | ministral-8b-2512 | gemini-2.5-flash-lite |
| API providers | 11 | 24 (best) |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Jun 17, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Jan 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 3 8B$1.80
- Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 3 8B or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 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?
Ministral 3 8B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Ministral 3 8B versus $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.2× 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 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 8B and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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 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 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 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Ministral 3 8B is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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.
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