GPT-5.2-Codex vs Ministral 3 8B: price, context and capabilities

Choose GPT-5.2-Codex for very long inputs, agentic coding, tool use and support agents, reasoning over long documents and the latest release. Choose Ministral 3 8B for self-hosting and data control.

In short

  • A price comparison is not possible: one of them has no comparable published price.
  • GPT-5.2-Codex reads more per request: 400k tokens against 256k.
  • GPT-5.2-Codex is the newer model (Jan 14, 2026, against December 2025).
  • Only GPT-5.2-Codex offers reasoning, structured output, batch api.
  • Only Ministral 3 8B offers self-hostable.

Open in the full comparison table

Which should you choose?

Each answer below comes straight from the published prices, specifications and independent benchmark results.

Very long inputs

Choose GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex reads up to 400k tokens per request, against 256k for Ministral 3 8B.

Agentic coding

Choose GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex scores 37.1% on Terminal-Bench Hard, against 4.5% for Ministral 3 8B.

Tool use and support agents

Choose GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex scores 92.1% on τ²-Bench (agentic tool use), against 26.6% for Ministral 3 8B.

Reasoning over long documents

Choose GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex scores 82.3% on Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR), against 25.7% for Ministral 3 8B.

Self-hosting and data control

Choose Ministral 3 8B

Ministral 3 8B has open weights, so you can run it on your own servers; GPT-5.2-Codex is only available through its provider.

Latest release

Choose GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex is the newer release (Jan 14, 2026, against December 2025 for Ministral 3 8B).

Specifications side by side

GPT-5.2-CodexMinistral 3 8B
ProviderOpenAIMistral AI
CategoryLanguage modelsLanguage models
StatusDeprecatedGenerally available
Headline priceNo dataNo data
InputNo dataNo data
OutputNo dataNo data
Cached inputNo dataNo data
Context window400k256k
Max output128kNo data
ReleasedJan 14, 2026December 2025
Knowledge cutoffAugust 2025No data
LicenceProprietaryOpen weights
CapabilitiesVision, Reasoning, Tool calling, Structured output, Batch APIVision, Tool calling, Self-hostable
API model idgpt-5.2-codexministral-8b-2512

Benchmarks side by side

Leader in bold.

BenchmarkGPT-5.2-CodexMinistral 3 8B
Terminal-Bench Hard 37.1% 4.5%
GPQA Diamond 89.9% 47.1%
Humanity's Last Exam 35.7% 4.3%
IFBench (instruction following) 77.6% 29.1%
τ²-Bench (agentic tool use) 92.1% 26.6%
MMMU-Pro (visual reasoning) 76.3% 46%
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) 82.3% 25.7%
Intelligence Index No data 5.5
SciCode No data 20.7%

Independent evaluations by Artificial Analysis, run the same way for every model, at the reasoning setting shown. Percentages unless marked as an index.

Frequently asked questions

Should I choose GPT-5.2-Codex or Ministral 3 8B?

Choose GPT-5.2-Codex for very long inputs, agentic coding, tool use and support agents, reasoning over long documents and the latest release. Choose Ministral 3 8B for self-hosting and data control.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.2-Codex or Ministral 3 8B?

A price comparison is not possible: one of them has no comparable published price.

Which has the larger context window, GPT-5.2-Codex or Ministral 3 8B?

GPT-5.2-Codex reads more per request: 400k tokens against 256k.

What is the difference between GPT-5.2-Codex and Ministral 3 8B?

GPT-5.2-Codex is made by OpenAI and Ministral 3 8B by Mistral AI. A price comparison is not possible: one of them has no comparable published price. GPT-5.2-Codex reads more per request: 400k tokens against 256k. GPT-5.2-Codex is the newer model (Jan 14, 2026, against December 2025). Only GPT-5.2-Codex offers reasoning, structured output, batch api. Only Ministral 3 8B offers self-hostable.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.2-Codex or Ministral 3 8B?

GPT-5.2-Codex scores 37.1% on Terminal-Bench Hard, against 4.5% for Ministral 3 8B.

Which is newer, GPT-5.2-Codex or Ministral 3 8B?

GPT-5.2-Codex was released on Jan 14, 2026 and Ministral 3 8B on December 2025.