DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) vs Ministral 3 3B
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek or Ministral 3 3B 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 (Non-reasoning) scores 19.9 points higher (24.7 vs 4.8) but costs 20× as much to run the benchmark ($239 vs $12.2; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) when you need intelligence above 4.8, and Ministral 3 3B when 4.8 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) | Ministral 3 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.7 | 4.8 | −80.6% Ministral 3 3B is 80.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $238.91 | $12.23 | −94.9% Ministral 3 3B is 94.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 2.88s | 3.07s | +6.6% Ministral 3 3B is 6.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.10 / $0.10 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Ministral 3 3B vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning): 80.6% less intelligence, 94.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 6.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Ministral 3 3B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning)Ministral 3 3BToday'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-non-reasoning/ministral-3-3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning/ministral-3-3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill