Ministral 3 8B
Analysis Summary
Ministral 3 8B is a Mistral model with an intelligence index of 9.0 and a coding index of 9.7. It improves on the smaller Ministral entry for coding and live coding, while remaining priced at only $0.15 per million input and output tokens. Results for reasoning, instruction following, long-context work, agentic tasks, and tool-oriented success are still low.
The model can fit inexpensive preprocessing, classification, short transformations, and coding experiments where outputs are tested automatically. It is not a suitable lead model for client-facing content, strategic SEO, complex codebases, document analysis, or autonomous agents. No context-window, vision, or function-calling details are supplied.
Choose it for cost-sensitive, tightly bounded volume tasks with strong safeguards. Route ambiguous or quality-sensitive requests to a more capable model.
Assessed August 9, 2026
Editorial notes
Ministral 3 8B offers very low token pricing and better coding results than the smaller variant, but its measured reasoning, agentic, instruction-following, and long-context capability remains limited.
Rankings consider pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, and real-world applicability and are refreshed as new models launch. Feedback?
DFO Verdict
Ministral 3 8B offers very low token pricing and better coding results than the smaller variant, but its measured reasoning, agentic, instruction-following, and long-context capability remains limited.
Benchmark scores
Magenta = intelligence · Ink = technical/agentic · Cyan = content & long-context · Grey = community benchmarks. Data: Artificial Analysis, Hugging Face.
9 Intelligence Index·9.7 Coding Index·1.2 Agentic Index·31.7 Math Index
How Ministral 3 8B compares
Ministral 3 8B ranks #295 of 433 AI models we track for overall intelligence, #182 of 206 for coding, #175 of 188 for agentic tasks. At $0.15 per million input tokens it is cheaper than 61% of comparable models.
Dark bar = input · light bar = output, scaled to the priciest peer.
1M tokens ≈ 8 full-length novels or ~2,500 pages of business documents in a single request.
Strongest on value. The pulled-in technical corner is the trade-off, and if the shape matters more than the price, this is your model.
Compare shapes side-by-side →Pricing
| Token Type | Cost per 1M tokens | Cost per 1K tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.15 | $0.000150 |
| Output | $0.15 | $0.000150 |
What would Ministral 3 8B cost your business?
Pick the job that looks most like yours, then fine-tune with the sliders. Estimates update live.
A website chatbot handling around 100 customer conversations a day, a few short messages each.
Full calculator with 748 models → Price Calculator
These numbers get smaller with the right architecture.
We route routine calls to cheap models and save Ministral 3 8B for the hard ones. Most clients cut their estimate by 60-80%.
Talk to our teamFrequently asked questions about Ministral 3 8B
How much does Ministral 3 8B cost?
Ministral 3 8B costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens.
Is Ministral 3 8B good for coding?
On our coding benchmark index, Ministral 3 8B ranks #182 of 206 models, placing it in the broader range of the field for code generation and debugging.
Who created Ministral 3 8B?
Ministral 3 8B is developed by Mistral and was released on December 2, 2025.