ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Ministral 3B vs Mistral Small 3.2

Mistral Small 3.2 comes out ahead, 60 to 49 on our weighted score, though Ministral 3B is 33% cheaper per token.

  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

    Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Mistral Small 3.2 is our pick

Mistral Small 3.2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Ministral 3B (49). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Ministral 3B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.2Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 · Ministral 3B 118.1
  • Lowest priceMinistral 3BMinistral 3B $0.10 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameMinistral 3B 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.2Ministral 3B: Text · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMinistral 3BMistral Small 3.2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3855
Price25%9789
Inputs & features15%2550
Context window10%2424
Overall100%49/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Ministral 3B vs Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationMinistral 3BMistral AIMistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)118.1131.7 (best)
ECI rank#144 of 148#123 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions25.3%49.1% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—30.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.10
Output$0.10 (best)$0.30
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.10 (best)$0.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID—mistral-small-2506
API providers16 (best)
ReleasedOct 16, 2024Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 2024Mar 2025
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
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Ministral 3B or Mistral Small 3.2?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Ministral 3B (49). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Ministral 3B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Ministral 3B or Mistral Small 3.2?

Ministral 3B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral 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 $0.15 for Mistral Small 3.2 (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.2 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 (#123 of 148) and Ministral 3B 118.1 (#144 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (126.6–133.9 vs 107.4–121.8), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.2 49.1%, Ministral 3B 25.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3B and Mistral Small 3.2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3.2 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?

Ministral 3B and Mistral Small 3.2 share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3B up to 8,192, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Ministral 3B accepts text; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images. Mistral Small 3.2 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?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Ministral 3B came out Oct 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Ministral 3B Mar 2024, Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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