Command R (08-2024) vs Pixtral 12B
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
- PriceCommand R (08-2024)
Command R (08-2024) publishes pricing ($0.60 / 1M output tokens) while Pixtral 12B does not.
- Context windowTie
Both ship a 128K-token context window.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesPixtral 12B
Pixtral 12B supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Command R (08-2024).
- OpennessTie
Both ship open weights, self-host either one.
It's a genuine coin-flip between Command R (08-2024) and Pixtral 12B: 1 category wins each, with the rest tied. Command R (08-2024) publishes pricing ($0.60 / 1M output tokens) while Pixtral 12B does not. Both ship a 128K-token context window.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Command R (08-2024) handles text while Pixtral 12B handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both ship open weights, self-host either one.
Both shipped within roughly a month of each other in 2024, so they share the same generation of training data and tooling. Command R (08-2024) is usually picked for rag and multilingual workloads, while Pixtral 12B sees more deployments in vision and edge deployment. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Command R (08-2024) | Pixtral 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Cohere | Mistral |
| Released | Aug 2024 | Sep 2024 |
| Modalities | text | text, vision |
| Context window | 128K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.15 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | $0.60 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | Yes (CC-BY-NC 4.0) | Yes (Apache-2.0) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$1.35 vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$13.50 vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$26.10 vs ,
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Command R (08-2024)$0.045
- Pixtral 12BPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
Command R (08-2024) fits when…
- Improved tool-use
- Strong multilingual
Pixtral 12B fits when…
- Apache-2.0
- Vision in 12B size
- Single-GPU
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Consider Command R+ (08-2024)
Cohere's flagship optimized for RAG and tool use in enterprise settings.
Frequently asked
Is Command R (08-2024) or Pixtral 12B cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
Both Command R (08-2024) and Pixtral 12B ship a 128K-token context window.Is Command R (08-2024) or Pixtral 12B better for coding?
Both Command R (08-2024) and Pixtral 12B are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Both ship with open weights. Command R (08-2024) is licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0; Pixtral 12B under Apache-2.0.When were Command R (08-2024) and Pixtral 12B released?
Command R (08-2024) was released by Cohere on 2024-08-30. Pixtral 12B was released by Mistral on 2024-09-17.
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