GPT-6 Astra (Medium) vs Ministral 3 8B
Which is better for the money: GPT-6 Astra (Medium) by OpenAI 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
GPT-6 Astra (Medium) scores 44.1 points higher (49.6 vs 5.5) but costs 89× as much to run the benchmark ($2434 vs $27.5; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Medium) when you need intelligence above 5.5, and Ministral 3 8B when 5.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-6 Astra (Medium) | Ministral 3 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.6 | 5.5 | −88.9% Ministral 3 8B is 88.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,434.12 | $27.47 | −98.9% Ministral 3 8B is 98.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 14.89s | 5.35s | −64.1% Ministral 3 8B is 64.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $0.15 / $0.15 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Ministral 3 8B vs GPT-6 Astra (Medium): 88.9% less intelligence, 98.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 64.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
- Ministral 3 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
GPT-6 Astra (Medium)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/gpt-6-astra-medium/ministral-3-8b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-astra-medium/ministral-3-8b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill