Theresa May has said they have "a duty" to reach agreement on Friday, amid splits over how closely the UK should stick to EU rules after Brexit.
She is expected to propose keeping the UK aligned with the EU on trading rules for goods but not services.
An ex-minister warned that would mean "something less than the full Brexit".
If ministers reach an agreement, the EU can then choose to accept or reject their proposals.
Speaking on Friday, the EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said it was "ready to adapt our offer should the UK's red lines change" but insisted there could be no "unravelling" of the single market.
Ministers are expected to be at Chequers, a 16th Century house in Buckinghamshire which is the PM's country residence, until about 22.00 GMT. They had to hand in their phones and any smartwatches on arrival.
Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington said the proposal would include a common rulebook on some sectors - like industrial goods and agricultural goods - for "practical" supply chain reasons.
Today programme: "I'm pretty confident we will end up with a concrete position which everybody is able to sign up to."
But Brexiteer ministers are understood to be unhappy. Seven cabinet ministers met at the Foreign Office on Thursday evening to discuss the proposal.
There have also been suggestions that the prime minister's proposal would make a US trade deal more difficult. No 10 says it is "categorically untrue that we will not be able to strike a trade deal with the US".
David Jones, a former minister at the Department for Exiting the EU, said Mrs May's proposal looked set to breach her "red lines" on leaving the customs union, single market and jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
Often the hype about a political event is in inverse proportion to the drama of what actually comes to pass. Maybe not this time.
To say that Brexiteer ministers are a bit miffed with Mrs May's plan, which they only received in its entirety on Thursday afternoon, is an understatement.
There is plenty in there that they don't like, and it's easy to see why.
Ahead of the meeting, Mrs May said the cabinet had "a great opportunity - and a duty. To set an ambitious course to enhance our prosperity and security outside the European Union - and to build a country that genuinely works for everyone".
Labour's Sir Keir Starmer said a workable agreement that could be taken to the EU was needed and "simply a truce in the cabinet was not good enough for Britain".
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said time was running out for the UK and the worst outcome would be ministers emerging "arm in arm, saying they've agreed, because that means there's another helping of fudge being served up and what is being put forward is likely to be rejected by Europe".
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