ResearchLLM Verifications Leaderboard

Data as of · 78 models, 80 questions · reviewed by Suhas Bhairav · methodology

Head to head · tested 27 Oct 2026

Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Mistral Large 4: accuracy, speed and price

Mistral Large 4 is more accurate; Ministral 3 3B 2512 is cheaper.

MistralMinistral 3 3B 251226.2% score · #67$0.00019 per question252 tok/sMistralMistral Large 450.0% score · #47$0.011 per question83 tok/s

Verdict

Built from the measurements below

  • Mistral Large 4 is more accurate: 50.0% against 26.2% on the same 80 questions, a 23.8-point gap that is statistically significant.
  • Ministral 3 3B 2512 is 58× cheaper per question as billed ($0.00019 vs $0.011), reasoning tokens included.
  • Ministral 3 3B 2512 generates text 3.0× faster: 252 tokens per second against 83.
  • Ministral 3 3B 2512 starts answering sooner: 0.3 s to the first token, against 1.1 s for Mistral Large 4.
  • Mistral Large 4 accepts more context: 1M tokens against 131k.

Which should you choose?

Choose Ministral 3 3B 2512 for the lower cost per correct answer ($0.00074 against $0.023), faster streaming, a quicker first token, shorter outputs (about 1,652 tokens per question against 2,613) and open weights you can run yourself. Choose Mistral Large 4 for the most accurate answers of the two and a 1M-token context window. The widest subject gap is in science: Mistral Large 4 answered 20 of 30 correctly, Ministral 3 3B 2512 5 of 30. With so few questions per subject, treat this as a lead to test on your own prompts, not a result.

Accuracy gap -23.8 points (z = -3.09). A winner is called only when z is at least 1.96, the usual 95% threshold. Speed, latency and price need a 10% margin.

Head to head

Same questions, same prompt, same API

MeasureMinistral 3 3B 2512Mistral Large 4Edge
Verification scoreHigher is better26.2%50.0%Mistral Large 4
Cost per questionLower is better$0.00019$0.011Ministral 3 3B 2512
Output speedHigher is better25283Ministral 3 3B 2512
Time to first tokenLower is better0.3 s1.1 sMinistral 3 3B 2512
End-to-end response timeLower is better1.6 s9.5 sMinistral 3 3B 2512
Tokens per questionLower is better1,6522,613Ministral 3 3B 2512
Context windowHigher is better131k1MMistral Large 4

Side by side

Bars are scaled to the larger of the two values. The winner on each measure is marked in bold.

Every measure

Ministral 3 3B 2512 first, Mistral Large 4 second

Verification scorehigher is better
Ministral 3 3B 251226.2%
Mistral Large 450.0%
Cost per questionlower is better
Ministral 3 3B 2512$0.00019
Mistral Large 4$0.011
Output speedhigher is better
Ministral 3 3B 2512252
Mistral Large 483
Time to first tokenlower is better
Ministral 3 3B 25120.3 s
Mistral Large 41.1 s
End-to-end response timelower is better
Ministral 3 3B 25121.6 s
Mistral Large 49.5 s
Tokens per questionlower is better
Ministral 3 3B 25121,652
Mistral Large 42,613
Context windowhigher is better
Ministral 3 3B 2512131k
Mistral Large 41M

Score vs. cost per question

Both models in color, every other model in grey

Most attractive quadrant0255075100$0.00001$0.0001$0.001$0.01$0.10Cost per question (USD, log) →Verification score (%) →Qwen3.8 2.4T A95BCommand AReka Flash 3Gemma 4 26B A4BGemma 4 31BQwen3.5 397B A17BHermes 4 405BMuse WonderGrok 4.7o3gpt-oss-20bGranite 4.0 MicroMinistral 3 3B 2512Nova Micro 1.0Phi 4Granite 4.2 8BHy3GLM 5.3 FlashSolar Pro 4MiniMax M3Mistral Large 4Claude Opus 5.5GPT-6.1 SolGemini 4 ArgonGPT-5.4GPT-6 Lunagpt-oss-120bLlama 4 Maverick

Specifications and pricing

From OpenRouter's catalogue, plus the leaderboard's test dates

SpecificationMinistral 3 3B 2512Mistral Large 4
CreatorMistralMistral
Released2 Dec 20256 Oct 2026
WeightsOpen weights—
ReasoningNoYes
Inputtext, imagetext, image
Outputtexttext
Context window131k tokens1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff——
List price in / out per 1M$0.1 / $0.1$1.36 / $4.18
Blended price per 1M (3:1)$0.10$2.06
Cheapest hostMistral · $0.1 / $0.1Mistral · $1.36 / $4.18
Hosts on OpenRouter11
Last tested26 Oct 202626 Oct 2026

Compare any two models →

Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Mistral Large 4: frequently asked questions

Is Ministral 3 3B 2512 better than Mistral Large 4?
Mistral Large 4 is more accurate: it answered 40 of 80 questions correctly (50.0%) against 21 of 80 (26.2%) for Ministral 3 3B 2512. Mistral Large 4 is more accurate; Ministral 3 3B 2512 is cheaper.
Which is cheaper, Ministral 3 3B 2512 or Mistral Large 4?
Ministral 3 3B 2512 is cheaper: $0.00019 per question as billed, against $0.011. List prices: Ministral 3 3B 2512 $0.1 in / $0.1 out, Mistral Large 4 $1.36 in / $4.18 out per million tokens.
Which is faster, Ministral 3 3B 2512 or Mistral Large 4?
Ministral 3 3B 2512 is faster at 252 output tokens per second, against 83. Time to first token: 0.3 s for Ministral 3 3B 2512, 1.1 s for Mistral Large 4.
Which has the larger context window, Ministral 3 3B 2512 or Mistral Large 4?
Mistral Large 4, with 1M tokens against 131k.