ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Ministral 3 8B vs Rnj-1 Instruct vs Voxtral Small 24B 2507

Ministral 3 8B comes out ahead, 68 to 55 and 50 on our weighted score.

  1. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Ministral 3 8B

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    68/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context262K
  2. Essential AI

    Rnj-1 Instruct

    Released Dec 4, 2025

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context33K
  3. Mistral AI

    Voxtral Small 24B 2507

    Released Jul 15, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context33K
01 — Verdict

Ministral 3 8B is our pick

Ministral 3 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Voxtral Small 24B 2507 (55) and Rnj-1 Instruct (50). It leads on 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 8B and Rnj-1 InstructMinistral 3 8B $0.15 · Rnj-1 Instruct $0.15 · Voxtral Small 24B 2507 $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMinistral 3 8BMinistral 3 8B 262,144 · Rnj-1 Instruct 32,768 · Voxtral Small 24B 2507 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsMinistral 3 8B and Voxtral Small 24B 2507Ministral 3 8B: Text, Images · Rnj-1 Instruct: Text · Voxtral Small 24B 2507: Text, Audio
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMinistral 3 8BRnj-1 InstructVoxtral Small 24B 2507
Price50%858582
Inputs & features30%602545
Context window20%3700
Overall100%68/10050/10055/100

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 Rnj-1 Instruct vs Voxtral Small 24B 2507 specifications side by side
SpecificationMinistral 3 8BMistral AIRnj-1 InstructEssential AIVoxtral Small 24B 2507Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15$0.15$0.10 (best)
Output$0.15 (best)$0.15 (best)$0.40
Cached input$0.015——
Blended (3:1)$0.15 (best)$0.15 (best)$0.175
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 1 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)32,768 tokens32,768 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens (best)32,768 tokens32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoYes
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0OpenApache 2.0OpenApache 2.0
API model IDministral-8b-2512—voxtral-small-latest
API providers11 (best)110
ReleasedDec 2, 2025Dec 4, 2025Jul 15, 2025
Knowledge cutoff———
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
  • Rnj-1 Instruct$1.80
  • Voxtral Small 24B 2507$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Ministral 3 8B, Rnj-1 Instruct or Voxtral Small 24B 2507?

Ministral 3 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Voxtral Small 24B 2507 (55) and Rnj-1 Instruct (50). It leads on 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 8B, Rnj-1 Instruct or Voxtral Small 24B 2507?

Ministral 3 8B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Rnj-1 Instruct costs $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Voxtral Small 24B 2507 costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Mistral 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 $0.15 for Rnj-1 Instruct (1× as much) and $0.175 for Voxtral Small 24B 2507 (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Ministral 3 8B has not been scored yet, Rnj-1 Instruct has not been scored yet and Voxtral Small 24B 2507 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 8B, Rnj-1 Instruct and Voxtral Small 24B 2507 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 8B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 32,768 for Rnj-1 Instruct and 32,768 for Voxtral Small 24B 2507. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3 8B up to 262,144, Rnj-1 Instruct up to 32,768, Voxtral Small 24B 2507 up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Ministral 3 8B accepts text and images; Rnj-1 Instruct accepts text; Voxtral Small 24B 2507 accepts text and audio. Ministral 3 8B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Rnj-1 Instruct is the newest, released Dec 4, 2025. Ministral 3 8B came out Dec 2, 2025; Voxtral Small 24B 2507 came out Jul 15, 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.