Grok 3 Mini
A lightweight, cost-efficient reasoning model from xAI that thinks before it responds, excelling at math, logic puzzles, and quantitative problem-solving.
Lightweight reasoning model for math and logic
Grok 3 Mini Beta is a compact text generation model developed by xAI, the AI division of X. It is designed as a thinking model, meaning it reasons through problems step by step before producing a final answer, and it exposes that reasoning trace so users can follow the model's logic in full. The model supports adjustable reasoning effort, defaulting to a lower setting for speed but allowing a high-effort mode for more demanding problems. It has a 131,072-token context window and was trained with data up to April 2025.
Grok 3 Mini is best suited for tasks that rely heavily on structured reasoning rather than broad world knowledge — including math problems, logic puzzles, coding challenges, and quantitative analysis. According to xAI's published benchmarks, it scores 95.8% on AIME 2024 and 80.4% on LiveCodeBench. It also supports function calling and web search, making it usable in agentic workflows. Epoch AI has noted that with high reasoning effort, Grok 3 Mini outperforms the larger Grok 3 model on math benchmarks.
What Grok 3 Mini supports
Step-by-Step Reasoning
The model works through problems before responding and exposes its full thinking trace, letting users follow each reasoning step to the final answer.
Adjustable Reasoning Effort
Reasoning depth can be set to low or high effort via a simple parameter, trading speed for thoroughness depending on problem complexity.
Math and Quantitative Reasoning
Achieves 95.8% on AIME 2024 and 80.4% on LiveCodeBench, reflecting strong performance on structured mathematical and coding problems.
Function Calling
Supports tool use via function calling, enabling integration into agentic workflows that require the model to invoke external functions.
Web Search
Can perform web search as a tool, allowing the model to retrieve current information during a reasoning session.
Long Context Window
Supports a 131,072-token context window, accommodating long documents, multi-turn conversations, or extended reasoning chains in a single session.
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Scores represent accuracy — the percentage of questions answered correctly on each test.
| Benchmark | What it tests | Score |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | Expert knowledge across 14 academic disciplines | 82.8% |
| GPQA Diamond | PhD-level science questions (biology, physics, chemistry) | 79.1% |
| MATH-500 | Undergraduate and competition-level math problems | 99.2% |
| AIME 2024 | American math olympiad problems | 93.3% |
| LiveCodeBench | Real-world coding tasks from recent competitions | 69.6% |
| HLE | Questions that challenge frontier models across many domains | 11.1% |
| SciCode | Scientific research coding and numerical methods | 40.6% |
Common questions about Grok 3 Mini
What is the context window for Grok 3 Mini?
Grok 3 Mini Beta supports a context window of 131,072 tokens, which can accommodate long documents, extended conversations, or lengthy reasoning chains in a single request.
What is the knowledge cutoff date for Grok 3 Mini?
Based on the model metadata, Grok 3 Mini Beta has a training data cutoff of April 2025.
How does the reasoning effort setting work?
Grok 3 Mini defaults to a lower reasoning effort for faster responses. You can set it to high effort for more complex problems, which causes the model to spend more time working through its thinking trace before producing an answer.
Can Grok 3 Mini be used in agentic or tool-use workflows?
Yes. Grok 3 Mini supports function calling and web search, making it compatible with agentic workflows where the model needs to invoke external tools or retrieve live information.
What types of tasks is Grok 3 Mini best suited for?
Grok 3 Mini is designed for tasks that require structured reasoning, such as math problems, logic puzzles, coding challenges, and quantitative analysis. It is less optimized for tasks requiring broad real-world or factual knowledge.
What people think about Grok 3 Mini
Community discussion around Grok 3 Mini is generally positive regarding its mathematical reasoning, with Epoch AI's finding that it outperforms the larger Grok 3 model on math benchmarks at high reasoning effort drawing notable attention. Users in the r/singularity community highlighted this as a meaningful result for a smaller, more cost-efficient model.
Discussions do not surface significant concerns specific to Grok 3 Mini, though the broader context of rapidly shifting model rankings suggests users treat benchmark results as a snapshot rather than a permanent measure. The model is most frequently referenced in conversations about math and reasoning benchmarks rather than general-purpose use cases.
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Parameters & options
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