Ministral 3B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 71 to 49 on our weighted score, though Ministral 3B is 43% cheaper per token.
Mistral AIMinistral 3B
49/100- ECI118.1
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context128K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
71/100- ECI133.9
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
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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 71/100 against Ministral 3B (49). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Ministral 3B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 · Ministral 3B 118.1
- Lowest priceMinistral 3BMinistral 3B $0.10 · 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 3B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMinistral 3B: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingMinistral 3BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 3B | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 38 | 58 |
| Price | 25% | 97 | 86 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 25 | 100 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 49/100 | 71/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Ministral 3BMistral AI | Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 118.1 | 133.9 (best) |
| ECI rank | #144 of 148 | #118 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 25.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.10 | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.10 (best) | $0.40 |
| Cached input | — | $0.01 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.10 (best) | $0.175 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Google API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | gemini-2.5-flash-lite |
| API providers | 1 | 20 (best) |
| Released | Oct 16, 2024 | Jun 17, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 2024 | 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 3B$1.20
- Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 3B or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Ministral 3B (49). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Ministral 3B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Ministral 3B or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Ministral 3B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). 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 $0.10 per million tokens for Ministral 3B versus $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148) and Ministral 3B 118.1 (#144 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (129.8–136.3 vs 107.4–121.8), so the gap is a real one.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3B and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. 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 128,000 for Ministral 3B. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3B up to 8,192, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 3B accepts text; 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 3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. Ministral 3B came out Oct 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Ministral 3B Mar 2024, 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 Oct 4, 2026.
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