ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Small 3.2 vs Ministral 3B

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

  1. 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

  2. Mistral AI

    Ministral 3B

    Released Oct 16, 2024

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

  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 sameMistral Small 3.2 128,000 · Ministral 3B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsMistral Small 3.2Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images · Ministral 3B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Small 3.2Ministral 3B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5538
Price25%8997
Inputs & features15%5025
Context window10%2424
Overall100%60/10049/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Small 3.2 vs Ministral 3B specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3.2Mistral AIMinistral 3BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)131.7 (best)118.1
ECI rank#123 of 148 (best)#144 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions49.1% (best)25.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics30.3%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.10
Output$0.30$0.10 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.15$0.10 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDmistral-small-2506—
API providers6 (best)1
ReleasedJun 20, 2025Oct 16, 2024
Knowledge cutoffMar 2025Mar 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.

  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
  • Ministral 3B$1.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

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, Mistral Small 3.2 or Ministral 3B?

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 Mistral Small 3.2 and Ministral 3B 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?

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

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images; Ministral 3B accepts text. 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: Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025, Ministral 3B Mar 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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