DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) vs Ministral 3 8B
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) by DeepSeek or Ministral 3 8B by Mistral? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) scores 39.6 points higher (45.1 vs 5.5) but costs 16× as much to run the benchmark ($445 vs $27.5; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) when you need intelligence above 5.5, and Ministral 3 8B when 5.5 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) | Ministral 3 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 45.1 | 5.5 | −87.8% Ministral 3 8B is 87.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $444.60 | $27.47 | −93.8% Ministral 3 8B is 93.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.16s | 4.94s | −69.4% Ministral 3 8B is 69.4% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.15 / $0.15 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Ministral 3 8B vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max): 87.8% less intelligence, 93.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 69.4% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- Ministral 3 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max)Ministral 3 8BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017/ministral-3-8b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017/ministral-3-8b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill