GPT-5.1-Codex-Max vs Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

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

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 84 to 36. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 75.5 against 15.2. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is HumanEval, 94 to 24.

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.00 input / $0.00 output per 1M tokens for Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning). That is roughly Infinityx on output cost alone. GPT-5.1-Codex-Max gives you the larger context window at 400K, compared with 128K for Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning).

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.1-Codex-Max if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning) only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

86

Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

38.5

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
39
85
BrowseComp
41
82
OSWorld-Verified
36

Coding

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

75.5

Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

15.2

94
HumanEval
24
75
SWE-bench Verified
17
67
LiveCodeBench
16
84
SWE-bench Pro
14

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

88.2

Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

33.4

85
MMMU-Pro
28
92
OfficeQA Pro
40

Reasoning

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

92.1

Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

42.1

94
SimpleQA
32
92
MuSR
33
92
BBH
70
90
LongBench v2
44
93
MRCRv2
47

Knowledge

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

72.6

Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

30

98
MMLU
30
96
GPQA
29
94
SuperGPQA
27
92
OpenBookQA
25
82
MMLU-Pro
54
27
HLE
5
84
FrontierScience
34

Instruction Following

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

91

Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

70

91
IFEval
70

Multilingual

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

87.7

Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

61.7

89
MGSM
63
87
MMLU-ProX
61

Mathematics

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

94.9

Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)

47.8

99
AIME 2023
33
99
AIME 2024
35
98
AIME 2025
34
95
HMMT Feb 2023
29
97
HMMT Feb 2024
31
96
HMMT Feb 2025
30
96
BRUMO 2025
32
93
MATH-500
67

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max is ahead overall, 84 to 36. The biggest single separator in this matchup is HumanEval, where the scores are 94 and 24.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 72.6 versus 30. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 75.5 versus 15.2. Inside this category, HumanEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 94.9 versus 47.8. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92.1 versus 42.1. Inside this category, SimpleQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 86 versus 38.5. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.2 versus 33.4. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 91 versus 70. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Ministral 3 8B (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 87.7 versus 61.7. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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