Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning vs Ministral 3 3B: price, context and capabilities

Choose Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning for very long inputs, tool use and support agents, reasoning over long documents and the latest release. Choose Ministral 3 3B for self-hosting and data control.

In short

  • A price comparison is not possible: one of them has no comparable published price.
  • Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning reads more per request: 1M tokens against 256k.
  • Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning is the newer model (March 2026, against December 2025).
  • Only Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning offers structured output, prompt caching, batch api.
  • Only Ministral 3 3B 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 Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning

Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning reads up to 1M tokens per request, against 256k for Ministral 3 3B.

Tool use and support agents

Choose Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning

Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning scores 59.9% on τ²-Bench (agentic tool use), against 24.9% for Ministral 3 3B.

Reasoning over long documents

Choose Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning

Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning scores 23.3% on Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR), against 17% for Ministral 3 3B.

Self-hosting and data control

Choose Ministral 3 3B

Ministral 3 3B has open weights, so you can run it on your own servers; Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning is only available through its provider.

Latest release

Choose Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning

Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning is the newer release (March 2026, against December 2025 for Ministral 3 3B).

Specifications side by side

Grok 4.20 Non-ReasoningMinistral 3 3B
ProviderxAIMistral AI
CategoryLanguage modelsLanguage models
StatusGenerally availableGenerally available
Headline price$1.56 / 1M tokensNo data
Input$1.25 / 1M tokensNo data
Output$2.50 / 1M tokensNo data
Cached input$0.20 / 1M tokensNo data
Context window1M256k
Max outputNo dataNo data
ReleasedMarch 2026December 2025
Knowledge cutoffNo dataNo data
LicenceProprietaryOpen weights
CapabilitiesVision, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching, Batch APIVision, Tool calling, Self-hostable
API model idgrok-4.20-0309-non-reasoningministral-3b-2512

Benchmarks side by side

Leader in bold.

BenchmarkGrok 4.20 Non-ReasoningMinistral 3 3B
GPQA Diamond 77.6% 35.8%
Humanity's Last Exam 27.9% 5.4%
IFBench (instruction following) 49.3% 26.8%
τ²-Bench (agentic tool use) 59.9% 24.9%
MMMU-Pro (visual reasoning) 64.9% 38.1%
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) 23.3% 17%
Terminal-Bench Hard 16.7% No data
Intelligence Index No data 4.8
SciCode No data 15.3%

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 Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning or Ministral 3 3B?

Choose Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning for very long inputs, tool use and support agents, reasoning over long documents and the latest release. Choose Ministral 3 3B for self-hosting and data control.

Which is cheaper, Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning or Ministral 3 3B?

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

Which has the larger context window, Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning or Ministral 3 3B?

Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning reads more per request: 1M tokens against 256k.

What is the difference between Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning and Ministral 3 3B?

Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning is made by xAI and Ministral 3 3B by Mistral AI. A price comparison is not possible: one of them has no comparable published price. Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning reads more per request: 1M tokens against 256k. Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning is the newer model (March 2026, against December 2025). Only Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning offers structured output, prompt caching, batch api. Only Ministral 3 3B offers self-hostable.

Which is newer, Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning or Ministral 3 3B?

Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning was released on March 2026 and Ministral 3 3B on December 2025.