Kimi K3 (Max) vs Ministral 3 3B
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) 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 (Max) scores 38.8 points higher (43.6 vs 4.8) but costs 299× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $12.2; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 4.8, and Ministral 3 3B when 4.8 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Ministral 3 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 4.8 | −89.0% Ministral 3 3B is 89.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $12.23 | −99.7% Ministral 3 3B is 99.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 63.08s | 3.07s | −95.1% Ministral 3 3B is 95.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.10 / $0.10 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Ministral 3 3B vs Kimi K3 (Max): 89.0% less intelligence, 99.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 95.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- 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 (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/kimi-k3/ministral-3-3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/ministral-3-3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill