DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) vs Ministral 3 3B
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) by DeepSeek or Ministral 3 3B by Mistral? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) scores 19.4 points higher (24.2 vs 4.8) but costs 12× as much to run the benchmark ($149 vs $12.2; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) when you need intelligence above 4.8, and Ministral 3 3B when 4.8 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) | Ministral 3 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.2 | 4.8 | −80.2% Ministral 3 3B is 80.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $149.48 | $12.23 | −91.8% Ministral 3 3B is 91.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 102.23s | 3.07s | −97.0% Ministral 3 3B is 97.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.11 / $0.23 | $0.10 / $0.10 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Ministral 3 3B vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max): 80.2% less intelligence, 91.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 97.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
- 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 Flash 0420 (Max)Ministral 3 3BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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