Ministral 3 3B vs Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Ministral 3 3B by Mistral or Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) by NVIDIA? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) scores 18.1 points higher (22.9 vs 4.8) but costs 49× as much to run the benchmark ($596 vs $12.2; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) when you need intelligence above 4.8, and Ministral 3 3B when 4.8 is enough.
| Metric | Ministral 3 3B | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 4.8 | 22.9 | +377.1% Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B… is 4.8× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $12.23 | $596.33 | +4776.0% Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B… is 49× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 3.38s | 14.97s | +342.9% Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B… is 342.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.10 / $0.10 | $0.60 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) vs Ministral 3 3B: 377.1% more intelligence, 4776.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 342.9% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Ministral 3 3B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Ministral 3 3BNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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