DeepSeek-R1 vs Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, and math workflows.

DeepSeek-R1 is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 43 to 31. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

DeepSeek-R1's sharpest advantage is in multimodal & grounded, where it averages 47.5 against 30.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is LongBench v2, 58 to 37.

DeepSeek-R1 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $0.55 input / $2.19 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.00 input / $0.00 output per 1M tokens for Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning). That is roughly Infinityx on output cost alone.

Quick Verdict

Pick DeepSeek-R1 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning) only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

DeepSeek-R1

DeepSeek-R1

44.5

Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

34

42
Terminal-Bench 2.0
33
49
BrowseComp
37
44
OSWorld-Verified
33

Coding

DeepSeek-R1

DeepSeek-R1

21.5

Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

7.2

36
HumanEval
16
17
SWE-bench Verified
9
19
LiveCodeBench
8
25
SWE-bench Pro
6

Multimodal & Grounded

DeepSeek-R1

DeepSeek-R1

47.5

Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

30.4

43
MMMU-Pro
25
53
OfficeQA Pro
37

Reasoning

DeepSeek-R1

DeepSeek-R1

50.9

Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

35.3

42
SimpleQA
26
40
MuSR
26
66
BBH
63
58
LongBench v2
37
57
MRCRv2
40

Knowledge

DeepSeek-R1

DeepSeek-R1

37.9

Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

25.2

44
MMLU
25
43
GPQA
24
41
SuperGPQA
22
39
OpenBookQA
20
52
MMLU-Pro
49
14
HLE
1
44
FrontierScience
29

Instruction Following

DeepSeek-R1

DeepSeek-R1

69

Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

68

69
IFEval
68

Multilingual

DeepSeek-R1

DeepSeek-R1

60.4

Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

59.7

61
MGSM
61
60
MMLU-ProX
59

Mathematics

DeepSeek-R1

DeepSeek-R1

52.5

Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)

40.9

44
AIME 2023
27
46
AIME 2024
29
45
AIME 2025
28
40
HMMT Feb 2023
23
42
HMMT Feb 2024
25
41
HMMT Feb 2025
24
43
BRUMO 2025
26
64
MATH-500
59

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 is ahead overall, 43 to 31. The biggest single separator in this matchup is LongBench v2, where the scores are 58 and 37.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 37.9 versus 25.2. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 21.5 versus 7.2. Inside this category, HumanEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 52.5 versus 40.9. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 50.9 versus 35.3. Inside this category, LongBench v2 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 44.5 versus 34. Inside this category, BrowseComp is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 47.5 versus 30.4. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 69 versus 68. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, DeepSeek-R1 or Ministral 3 3B (Reasoning)?

DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 60.4 versus 59.7. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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