API cost decision in 10 seconds

Step 3.5 Flash vs Ministral 3 3B 2512

Pick Ministral 3 3B 2512 for lower cost; pick Step 3.5 Flash only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-26T11:08:00Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Ministral 3 3B 2512 for lower cost; pick Step 3.5 Flash 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 $0.24 for Step 3.5 Flash, saving $0.09 (37.5% lower).

Cost-first pickMinistral 3 3B 2512

Context-first pickStep 3.5 Flash

Sample savings$0.0937.5%

10x traffic gap$0.9

Step 3.5 Flash has more context, but Ministral 3 3B 2512 saves $0.09 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.9. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Ministral 3 3B 2512 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Step 3.5 Flash	Ministral 3 3B 2512
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Ministral 3 3B 2512	$0.6	$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	$1.59	$0.6

Cheaper input Step 3.5 Flash $0.09 vs $0.1 / 1M

Step 3.5 Flash is $0.01 cheaper per 1M input tokens (10% lower; 1.11x difference).

Cheaper output Ministral 3 3B 2512 $0.3 vs $0.1 / 1M

Ministral 3 3B 2512 is $0.2 cheaper per 1M output tokens (66.7% lower; 3x difference).

Larger context Step 3.5 Flash 262.14K vs 131.07K

Step 3.5 Flash has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload Ministral 3 3B 2512 $0.24 vs $0.15

Ministral 3 3B 2512 is $0.09 cheaper on the standard workload (37.5% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Step 3.5 Flash 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

Step 3.5 Flash has the lower input price; Ministral 3 3B 2512 has the lower output price; Step 3.5 Flash 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 $0.24 for Step 3.5 Flash and $0.15 for Ministral 3 3B 2512.

Best Fit

Choose Step 3.5 Flash 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 $0.24 for Step 3.5 Flash, saving $0.09 (37.5% lower).
Ministral 3 3B 2512 is $0.09 cheaper on the standard workload (37.5% lower).
Step 3.5 Flash is $0.01 cheaper per 1M input tokens (10% lower; 1.11x difference).
Ministral 3 3B 2512 is $0.2 cheaper per 1M output tokens (66.7% lower; 3x difference).
Step 3.5 Flash has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Step 3.5 Flash (StepFun)	Ministral 3 3B 2512 (Mistral)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.09	$0.1
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.3	$0.1
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.24	$0.15
Context Window	262.14K	131.07K
Release Date	2026-01-29	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 $0.24 for Step 3.5 Flash, saving $0.09 (37.5% lower).
High-volume input processing	Step 3.5 Flash	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	Step 3.5 Flash	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Mistral Nemo can replace Ministral 3 3B 2512 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.04.
Mistral Small 3 can replace Ministral 3 3B 2512 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.09.

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

No popular competitor is currently available.

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

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Provider catalogs

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StepFun catalog

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Mistral catalog

Check other Mistral models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open Mistral models

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash is StepFun's most capable open-source foundation model. Built on a sparse Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture, it selectively activates only 11B of its 196B parameters per token....

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.