DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs Ministral 3 3B
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or Ministral 3 3B by Mistral? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) scores 34.7 points higher (39.5 vs 4.8) but costs 55× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $12.2; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when you need intelligence above 4.8, and Ministral 3 3B when 4.8 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | Ministral 3 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 4.8 | −87.8% Ministral 3 3B is 87.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $12.23 | −98.2% Ministral 3 3B is 98.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 14.92s | 3.07s | −79.4% Ministral 3 3B is 79.4% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.10 / $0.10 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Ministral 3 3B vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 87.8% less intelligence, 98.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 79.4% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- 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 (Max)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/ministral-3-3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash/ministral-3-3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill