GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)

    Comparison

    As of August 20, 2026, Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) is 97% cheaper per million tokens than GLM-5.3. GLM-5.3 is $1.40 / $4.40 per million input/output tokens versus Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) at $0.10 / $0.10. Sources: https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing and https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models

    Sources: Z AI pricing (https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing); OpenRouter pricing (https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models)

    GLM-5.3

    Z AI

    $5.80blended / 1M

    Input

    $1.40

    Output

    $4.40

    1M ctx|Open Source
    97%
    cheaper
    Better value

    Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)

    Mistral

    $0.20blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.10

    Output

    $0.10

    131.1K ctx|Open Source
    Save $5.60 per million tokens by choosing Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) over GLM-5.3.

    GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Metric
    GLM-5.3
    Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)
    Provider
    Provider
    Z AI
    Mistral
    License
    Open Source
    Open Source
    Release Date
    2026-08-14
    2025-12-04
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price+1300%
    $1.40
    $0.10
    Output Price+4300%
    $4.40
    $0.10
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $5.80
    $0.20
    Model Details
    Context Window
    1M
    131.1K
    Max Output Tokens
    N/A
    N/A
    Knowledge Cutoff
    N/A
    N/A
    Throughput
    N/A
    N/A
    Benchmarks
    62.5%
    66.9%
    83%
    30.5%
    84.5%
    54.4%
    78.1%
    59%
    58%
    42.5%
    56.8%

    Verdict

    GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512): the bottom line

    Both models are closely matched on benchmarks. Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) has the pricing advantage, making it the better value unless GLM-5.3's specific capabilities are critical to your workflow.

    GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) FAQ

    Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3 or Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)?

    As of August 20, 2026, Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) is 97% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.10 per million output tokens ($0.20 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). GLM-5.3 costs $1.40 / $4.40 per million tokens ($5.80 blended). Sources: https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing and https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models. The cheapest LLM for your app still depends on how many output tokens you generate.

    How much does GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) cost per million tokens?

    GLM-5.3 Z AI API pricing is $1.40 input and $4.40 output per million tokens via Z AI. Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) Mistral API pricing is $0.10 input and $0.10 output per million tokens via OpenRouter. Use those four numbers, not ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription prices, when you are comparing APIs.

    Which is better for coding, GLM-5.3 or Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)?

    Neither GLM-5.3 nor Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) has a published SWE-bench or LiveCodeBench score on this page yet. Use the comparison table for the evals that do exist.

    What is the context window for GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)?

    GLM-5.3 supports a 1M token context window, while Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) supports 131K tokens. GLM-5.3 offers a larger context window. Filling a larger window bills more input tokens, so the cheaper-per-million model can still cost more on long documents.

    Which model performs better on benchmarks, GLM-5.3 or Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)?

    Shared benchmark scores for GLM-5.3 and Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) are still limited. Check the comparison table for the evals each model has published. Check the comparison table for GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench, MMLU, HLE, and the other evals we track. Token price and benchmark score together are the usual LLM comparison, not either number alone.

    Is GLM-5.3 or Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) better for production use?

    Both GLM-5.3 and Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) has better economics on the blended 1M-in + 1M-out scale. For maximum capability, weight the benchmark table for your domain. Many production stacks route cheap models for drafts and a frontier model for the hard turn, which is usually cheaper than sending everything to the expensive API.

    Can I switch between GLM-5.3 and Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) in my app?

    Yes. Call GLM-5.3 through Z AI and Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) through OpenRouter with separate API keys, or through a gateway that already wraps both. Keep prompts in tokens, not characters, when you estimate the invoice. AnotherWrapper templates can swap providers without rewriting auth and billing.

    How accurate is this GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) pricing data?

    List rates are the latest published Z AI API pricing and Mistral API pricing, quoted per million tokens. Official rate sheets: https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing and https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models. Prompt caching, batch APIs, and committed-use discounts can change the invoice. Benchmark scores are from official publications and independent evals, updated as new numbers land.

    What is the output token limit for GLM-5.3 and Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)?

    GLM-5.3 supports up to an unspecified number of output tokens per request, while Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) supports up to an unspecified number of output tokens. Output tokens are usually the expensive half of API pricing, so a higher max output cap is a capability, not a discount.

    Which model has better throughput, GLM-5.3 or Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)?

    Neither GLM-5.3 nor Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) has published throughput data on this page yet. Throughput (tokens per second) and time-to-first-token are why two models with the same per-million-token price can still feel different in chat and agents.

    How do I switch the models in this GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) comparison?

    Use the model pickers at the top of this LLM comparison. Search any model in the index and the URL updates. Open GLM-5.3 or Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) from the sidebar for the single-model API pricing page, or go back to the LLM pricing table to sort by cheapest blended cost.

    GLM-5.3 vs Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) pricing

    This comparison covers API pricing, context window, throughput, and benchmark scores. GLM-5.3 costs $1.40/M input and $4.40/M output. Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) costs $0.10/M input and $0.10/M output via OpenRouter.

    Rank both on the LLM leaderboard, SWE-bench, and Humanity's Last Exam.

    The index

    All Large Language Models

    280 models across 33 providers. Search or jump to a lab — every model page stays linked here.

    Baidu

    1 models

    Inception

    1 models

    inclusionAI

    1 models

    LG AI Research

    1 models

    Nous Research

    1 models

    Sakana AI

    1 models

    StepFun

    1 models

    Tencent

    1 models

    Thinking Machines

    1 models

    Unisound

    1 models

    Upstage

    1 models

    Next step

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