Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B vs Grok 4.1 Fast vs Ministral 3 3B
Ministral 3 3B comes out ahead, 74 to 71 and 68 on our weighted score, though Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B is 13% cheaper per token.
NVIDIANemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B
68/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.20
- Context262K
xAIGrok 4.1 Fast
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.50
- Context2M
- Our pick
Mistral AIMinistral 3 3B
74/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context262K
Ministral 3 3B is our pick
Ministral 3 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Grok 4.1 Fast (71) and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B (68). Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B wins on price. Grok 4.1 Fast wins on 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 priceNemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BNemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B $0.087 · Ministral 3 3B $0.10 · Grok 4.1 Fast $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.1 FastGrok 4.1 Fast 2,000,000 · Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B 262,144 · Ministral 3 3B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGrok 4.1 Fast and Ministral 3 3BNemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B: Text · Grok 4.1 Fast: Text, Images · Ministral 3 3B: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B and Ministral 3 3BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Grok 4.1 Fast | Ministral 3 3B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 100 | 76 | 97 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 60 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 72 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 68/100 | 71/100 | 74/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BNVIDIA | Grok 4.1 FastxAI | Ministral 3 3BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.05 (best) | $0.20 | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.20 | $0.50 | $0.10 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.087 (best) | $0.275 | $0.10 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 13 providers | Median of 2 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 2,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 30,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | OpenApache 2.0 |
| API model ID | nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b | — | — |
| API providers | 16 (best) | 2 | 1 |
| Released | Dec 15, 2025 | Nov 19, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B$0.90
- Grok 4.1 Fast$3.00
- Ministral 3 3B$1.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B, Grok 4.1 Fast or Ministral 3 3B?
Ministral 3 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Grok 4.1 Fast (71) and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B (68). Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B wins on price. Grok 4.1 Fast wins on 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, Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B, Grok 4.1 Fast or Ministral 3 3B?
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers; free on Nvidia). Ministral 3 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Grok 4.1 Fast costs $0.20 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.087 per million tokens for Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B versus $0.10 for Ministral 3 3B (1.1× as much) and $0.275 for Grok 4.1 Fast (3.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B has not been scored yet, Grok 4.1 Fast has not been scored yet and Ministral 3 3B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B, Grok 4.1 Fast and Ministral 3 3B 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?
Grok 4.1 Fast has the largest context window at 2,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B and 262,144 for Ministral 3 3B. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B up to 262,144, Grok 4.1 Fast up to 30,000, Ministral 3 3B up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B accepts text; Grok 4.1 Fast accepts text and images; Ministral 3 3B accepts text and images. Grok 4.1 Fast handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B and Ministral 3 3B publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.1 Fast is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B is the newest, released Dec 15, 2025. Ministral 3 3B came out Dec 2, 2025; Grok 4.1 Fast came out Nov 19, 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.
