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Gemini 3 Flash 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.

Updated

Gemini 3 Flash specs · Pixtral 12B specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceTie

    Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.

  • Context windowGemini 3 Flash

    Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K, 8.2× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesGemini 3 Flash

    Gemini 3 Flash supports 4 modalities (text, vision, audio, video) vs 2 for Pixtral 12B.

  • OpennessPixtral 12B

    Pixtral 12B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.

On balance Gemini 3 Flash edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Pixtral 12B's 1. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K, 8.2× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Gemini 3 Flash handles text, vision, audio, video while Pixtral 12B handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Pixtral 12B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.

Gemini 3 Flash is the newer of the two, released 15 months after Pixtral 12B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Gemini 3 Flash is usually picked for rag and summarization 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

SpecGemini 3 FlashPixtral 12B
ProviderGoogleMistral
ReleasedDec 2025Sep 2024
Modalitiestext, vision, audio, videotext, vision
Context window1.0M tokens128K tokens
Max output65.5K tokens,
Input · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Output · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff2025-01,
Open weightsNoYes (Apache-2.0)
API availableYesYes

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, vs ,
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs ,
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, 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).

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Gemini 3 FlashPricing unavailable
  • 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.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick Gemini 3 Flash if

Gemini 3 Flash fits when…

  • 1M-token context at mid-tier price
  • Very fast, good for interactive UX
  • Strong vision support
  • Long-context tasks, handles 1.0M tokens vs 128K for Pixtral 12B.
  • Multimodal needs covering audio, video.
Pick Pixtral 12B if

Pixtral 12B fits when…

  • Apache-2.0
  • Vision in 12B size
  • Single-GPU
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
Don't want either?

Consider Gemini 3 Pro

Google's late-2025 flagship, set new benchmarks on long-context, vision, and reasoning at competitive pricing.

See Gemini 3 Pro specsGemini 3 Flash vs Gemini 3 ProPixtral 12B vs Gemini 3 Pro

Frequently asked

  • Is Gemini 3 Flash 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?
    Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K for Pixtral 12B.
  • Is Gemini 3 Flash or Pixtral 12B better for coding?
    Both Gemini 3 Flash 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?
    Pixtral 12B ships open weights (Apache-2.0). Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.
  • When were Gemini 3 Flash and Pixtral 12B released?
    Gemini 3 Flash was released by Google on 2025-12-09. Pixtral 12B was released by Mistral on 2024-09-17.
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