Ministral 3 8B vs Gemma 3 12B it
Ministral 3 8B scores higher on the intelligence index, 5 against 4. Both take the same machine to start: the cheapest here that runs either is the Mac mini M6, 16GB, at $899. On it, they run at much the same speed: 12 and 12 tok/s, both estimated from memory bandwidth. At 500k tokens a day the Mac mini M6, 16GB pays for itself in 37 years running Ministral 3 8B, against 123 years running Gemma 3 12B it.
| Ministral 3 8B | Gemma 3 12B it | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence index | 5 | 4 |
| Class | Below every hosted tier | Below every hosted tier |
| Weights | 5.2 GB | 7.3 GB |
| Needs at 32k | 9.8 GB | 9.8 GB |
| Quantisation | Q4_K_M | Q4_K_M |
| Parameters | 8.9B | 12.2B |
| Max context | 256k | 128k |
| API price per 1M | $0.15 in / $0.15 out | $0.05 in / $0.15 out |
| Licence | Apache 2.0 | Gemma Terms of Use |
| Machines here that run it | 37 of 37 | 37 of 37 |
| Cheapest machine that runs it | Mac mini M6, 16GB $899 | Mac mini M6, 16GB $899 |
Run Ministral 3 8B on the Mac mini M6, 16GB · or Gemma 3 12B it
Jump to: Side by side on the Mac mini M6, 16GB · How much use it takes to pay for the machine · Memory is not what separates them · The assumptions behind both columns
Side by side on the Mac mini M6, 16GB
The cheapest machine that runs either model is the same one, so this is the pair doing the same work on the same hardware: Mac mini M6, 16GB, at $899.
| Ministral 3 8B | Gemma 3 12B it | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed at 32k | 12 tok/s estimated | 12 tok/s estimated |
| Pay-back on this machine | Pays back in 37 years | Pays back in 123 years |
| API cost per month | $2.28 | $0.86 |
Run Ministral 3 8B on the Mac mini M6, 16GB · or Gemma 3 12B it
How much use it takes to pay for the machine
Everything above is at 500k tokens a day. Pay-back moves with how much you actually run, so here are both models at the five levels of use the calculator names, on the Mac mini M6, 16GB. Ministral 3 8B pays for it sooner at every level of use, so which of them to run does not turn on how hard you work it.
| A day's use | Ministral 3 8B | Gemma 3 12B it |
|---|---|---|
| 50ka few chats a day | 368 years | 1,234 years |
| 200klight assistant use | 92 years | 308 years |
| 1Ma moderate coding-assistant day | 18 years | 62 years |
| 4Mheavy coding with an agent | 4.6 years | 15 years |
| 20Magents running most of the day | 14 monthsits ceiling | 3.8 yearsits ceiling |
The Mac mini M6, 16GB cannot generate 20M tokens a day on either model: at most 16.2M on Ministral 3 8B and 16.2M on Gemma 3 12B it. Both figures on that row are for the most it can do.
Run Ministral 3 8B at 20M tokens a day · or Gemma 3 12B it
Memory is not what separates them
Ministral 3 8B needs 9.8 GB of memory at 32k of context and Gemma 3 12B it needs 9.8 GB. Every machine priced here that runs one runs the other, at 32k of context. So the choice between them is what each is good at, how fast it runs and what the same work costs on an API, not what you have to buy to hold it.
Ministral 3 8B is also head to head with Gemma 3 27B it above it on the leaderboard. One more model needs much the same memory: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct. Gemma 3 12B it is also head to head with Gemma 4 12B, the current Gemma nearest it in size. One more model needs much the same memory: Qwen3 8B.
The assumptions behind both columns
Both columns use the same usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k of context, $0.17 per kWh, and today's API prices held flat. Speeds marked estimated are worked out from memory bandwidth rather than measured, and pay-back scales with them. Where nobody rents an open model by the token, its API prices are the nearest hosted model's, named beside them. Machines are the 37 here with a published price that are still sold. Change any of it in the calculator.
More head to head: every machine that runs Ministral 3 8B · every machine that runs Gemma 3 12B it · every other match-up · both against the frontier · the quickest pay-back at each level of use