ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen3 30B A3B vs Ministral 3 8B

Ministral 3 8B comes out ahead, 68 to 55 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 30B A3B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.108 / $0.475
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 30B A3B
  2. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Ministral 3 8B

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    68/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 3 8B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Ministral 3 8B is our pick

Ministral 3 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3 30B A3B (55). It leads on price, inputs & features and 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 priceMinistral 3 8BMinistral 3 8B $0.15 · Qwen3 30B A3B $0.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMinistral 3 8BMinistral 3 8B 262,144 · Qwen3 30B A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsMinistral 3 8BQwen3 30B A3B: Text · Ministral 3 8B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 30B A3BMinistral 3 8B
Price50%8085
Inputs & features30%3560
Context window20%2537
Overall100%55/10068/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3 30B A3B vs Ministral 3 8B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 30B A3BAlibaba (Qwen)Ministral 3 8BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)136.2—
ECI rank#126 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions61.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics62.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.108 (best)$0.15
Output$0.475$0.15 (best)
Cached input—$0.015
Blended (3:1)$0.20$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 14 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache 2.0
API model ID—ministral-8b-2512
API providers14 (best)11
ReleasedApr 28, 2025Dec 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——
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.

  • Qwen3 30B A3B$2.03
  • Ministral 3 8B$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 30B A3B or Ministral 3 8B?

Ministral 3 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Qwen3 30B A3B (55). It leads on price, inputs & features and 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, Qwen3 30B A3B or Ministral 3 8B?

Ministral 3 8B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Qwen3 30B A3B costs $0.108 input / $0.475 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Ministral 3 8B versus $0.20 for Qwen3 30B A3B (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 30B A3B has an ECI of 136.2 and Ministral 3 8B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 30B A3B and Ministral 3 8B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Ministral 3 8B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 30B A3B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 30B A3B up to 16,384, Ministral 3 8B up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 30B A3B accepts text; Ministral 3 8B accepts text and images. Ministral 3 8B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Ministral 3 8B is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Qwen3 30B A3B came out Apr 28, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons