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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Ministral 3B vs Gemma 3 4B IT

Gemma 3 4B IT comes out ahead, 53 to 49 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Mistral AI

    Ministral 3B

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    49/100
    • ECI118.1
    • Price$0.10 / $0.10
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 3B
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemma 3 4B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI116.1
    • Price$0.05 / $0.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 4B IT

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemma 3 4B IT is our pick

Gemma 3 4B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against Ministral 3B (49). It leads on price and inputs & features. Ministral 3B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMinistral 3BCapabilities Index (ECI): Ministral 3B 118.1 · Gemma 3 4B IT 116.1
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 4B ITGemma 3 4B IT $0.063 · Ministral 3B $0.10 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemma 3 4B ITGemma 3 4B IT 131,072 · Ministral 3B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemma 3 4B ITMinistral 3B: Text · Gemma 3 4B IT: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMinistral 3BGemma 3 4B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3835
Price25%97100
Inputs & features15%2550
Context window10%2424
Overall100%49/10053/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Ministral 3B vs Gemma 3 4B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationMinistral 3BMistral AIGemma 3 4B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)118.1 (best)116.1
ECI rank#144 of 148 (best)#146 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions25.3% (best)23.2%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—7.5%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.05 (best)
Output$0.10$0.10
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.10$0.063 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 7 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID——
API providers17 (best)
ReleasedOct 16, 2024Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 2024Aug 2024
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 3B$1.20
  • Gemma 3 4B IT$0.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Ministral 3B or Gemma 3 4B IT?

Gemma 3 4B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against Ministral 3B (49). It leads on price and inputs & features. Ministral 3B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Ministral 3B or Gemma 3 4B IT?

Gemma 3 4B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Ministral 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.063 per million tokens for Gemma 3 4B IT versus $0.10 for Ministral 3B (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Ministral 3B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Ministral 3B 118.1 (#144 of 148) and Gemma 3 4B IT 116.1 (#146 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (107.4–121.8 vs 97.7–124.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Ministral 3B 25.3%, Gemma 3 4B IT 23.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3B and Gemma 3 4B IT yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Ministral 3B 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?

Gemma 3 4B IT has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Ministral 3B. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3B up to 8,192, Gemma 3 4B IT up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Ministral 3B accepts text; Gemma 3 4B IT accepts text and images. Gemma 3 4B IT handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Gemma 3 4B IT is the newest, released Mar 12, 2025. Ministral 3B came out Oct 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Ministral 3B Mar 2024, Gemma 3 4B IT Aug 2024.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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