API cost decision in 10 seconds

Gemma 4 26B A4B vs Ministral 3 3B 2512

Pick Ministral 3 3B 2512 for lower cost; pick Gemma 4 26B A4B only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T10:03:26Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T12:43:06Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Ministral 3 3B 2512 for lower cost; pick Gemma 4 26B A4B only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Ministral 3 3B 2512 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.23 for Gemma 4 26B A4B, saving $0.07 (33.3% lower).

Cost-first pickMinistral 3 3B 2512

Context-first pickGemma 4 26B A4B

Sample savings$0.0733.3%

10x traffic gap$0.75

Gemma 4 26B A4B has more context, but Ministral 3 3B 2512 saves $0.07 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.75. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Cost winner changes by workload shape: input-heavy / RAG favors Gemma 4 26B A4B, balanced workload favors Ministral 3 3B 2512, and output-heavy chatbot favors Ministral 3 3B 2512.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Gemma 4 26B A4B	Ministral 3 3B 2512
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Gemma 4 26B A4B	$0.46	$0.55
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Ministral 3 3B 2512	$0.39	$0.2
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Ministral 3 3B 2512	$1.71	$0.6

Cheaper input Gemma 4 26B A4B $0.06 vs $0.1 / 1M

Gemma 4 26B A4B is $0.04 cheaper per 1M input tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).

Cheaper output Ministral 3 3B 2512 $0.33 vs $0.1 / 1M

Ministral 3 3B 2512 is $0.23 cheaper per 1M output tokens (69.7% lower; 3.3x difference).

Larger context Gemma 4 26B A4B 262.14K vs 131.07K

Gemma 4 26B A4B has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload Ministral 3 3B 2512 $0.23 vs $0.15

Ministral 3 3B 2512 is $0.07 cheaper on the standard workload (33.3% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Gemma 4 26B A4B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Ministral 3 3B 2512 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Gemma 4 26B A4B has the lower input price; Ministral 3 3B 2512 has the lower output price; Gemma 4 26B A4B offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Ministral 3 3B 2512 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.23 for Gemma 4 26B A4B and $0.15 for Ministral 3 3B 2512.

Best Fit

Choose Gemma 4 26B A4B when you care most about lower input-token price, and larger context window.

Choose Ministral 3 3B 2512 when you care most about lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Ministral 3 3B 2512 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.23 for Gemma 4 26B A4B, saving $0.07 (33.3% lower).
Ministral 3 3B 2512 is $0.07 cheaper on the standard workload (33.3% lower).
Gemma 4 26B A4B is $0.04 cheaper per 1M input tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).
Ministral 3 3B 2512 is $0.23 cheaper per 1M output tokens (69.7% lower; 3.3x difference).
Gemma 4 26B A4B has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Gemma 4 26B A4B (Google)	Ministral 3 3B 2512 (Mistral)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.06	$0.1
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.33	$0.1
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.23	$0.15
Context Window	262.14K	131.07K
Release Date	2026-04-03	2025-12-02

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Ministral 3 3B 2512	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Ministral 3 3B 2512 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.23 for Gemma 4 26B A4B, saving $0.07 (33.3% lower).
High-volume input processing	Gemma 4 26B A4B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Ministral 3 3B 2512	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Gemma 4 26B A4B	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Gemma 4 26B A4B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Gemma 4 26B A4B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Gemma 4 26B A4B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Gemma 4 26B A4B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Google catalog

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Mistral catalog

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Gemma 4 26B A4B

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is an instruction-tuned Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) model from Google DeepMind. Despite 25.2B total parameters, only 3.8B activate per token during inference — delivering near-31B quality at...

Ministral 3 3B 2512

The smallest model in the Ministral 3 family, Ministral 3 3B is a powerful, efficient tiny language model with vision capabilities.