Kimi K3.1 Pro vs Ministral 3 3B
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3.1 Pro by Kimi 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
Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 50.3 points higher (55.1 vs 4.8) but costs 255× as much to run the benchmark ($3117 vs $12.2; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3.1 Pro when you need intelligence above 4.8, and Ministral 3 3B when 4.8 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3.1 Pro | Ministral 3 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 55.1 | 4.8 | −91.3% Ministral 3 3B is 91.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,117.31 | $12.23 | −99.6% Ministral 3 3B is 99.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 42.64s | 3.07s | −92.8% Ministral 3 3B is 92.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $0.10 / $0.10 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Ministral 3 3B vs Kimi K3.1 Pro: 91.3% less intelligence, 99.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 92.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K3.1 Pro is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- Ministral 3 3B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
Kimi K3.1 ProMinistral 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/kimi-k3-1-pro/ministral-3-3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3-1-pro/ministral-3-3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill