Ministral 3 8B vs Grok 4.1 Fast
Too close to call on our weighted score (Grok 4.1 Fast 71, Ministral 3 8B 70). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Mistral AIMinistral 3 8B
70/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context262K
xAIGrok 4.1 Fast
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.50
- Context2M
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Grok 4.1 Fast 71/100, Ministral 3 8B 70/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Ministral 3 8B on price and Grok 4.1 Fast 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 3 8BMinistral 3 8B $0.15 · Grok 4.1 Fast $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.1 FastGrok 4.1 Fast 2,000,000 · Ministral 3 8B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsMinistral 3 8B: Text, Images · Grok 4.1 Fast: Text, Images
- Self-hostingMinistral 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 3 8B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 76 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 72 |
| Overall | 100% | 70/100 | 71/100 |
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 | Grok 4.1 FastxAI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.15 (best) | $0.20 |
| Output | $0.15 (best) | $0.50 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 (best) | $0.275 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 2,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 30,000 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 | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache 2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 1 | 2 (best) |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Nov 19, 2025 |
| 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 8B$1.80
- Grok 4.1 Fast$3.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 3 8B or Grok 4.1 Fast?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Grok 4.1 Fast 71/100, Ministral 3 8B 70/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Ministral 3 8B on price and Grok 4.1 Fast 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 3 8B or Grok 4.1 Fast?
Ministral 3 8B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Grok 4.1 Fast costs $0.20 input / $0.50 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 $0.275 for Grok 4.1 Fast (1.8× 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 Grok 4.1 Fast has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 8B and Grok 4.1 Fast 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?
Grok 4.1 Fast has the largest context window at 2,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Ministral 3 8B. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3 8B up to 262,144, Grok 4.1 Fast up to 30,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 3 8B accepts text and images; Grok 4.1 Fast accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Ministral 3 8B publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.1 Fast is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Ministral 3 8B is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Grok 4.1 Fast came out Nov 19, 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.
