Gemini 3 Pro 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 Pro specs · Pixtral 12B specs- PriceTie
Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.
- Context windowGemini 3 Pro
Gemini 3 Pro 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 Pro
Gemini 3 Pro supports 4 modalities (text, vision, audio, video) vs 2 for Pixtral 12B.
- OpennessPixtral 12B
Pixtral 12B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Gemini 3 Pro is API-only.
On balance Gemini 3 Pro edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Pixtral 12B's 1. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Gemini 3 Pro 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 Pro 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 Pro is API-only.
Gemini 3 Pro 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 Pro is usually picked for long context and rag 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 | Gemini 3 Pro | Pixtral 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral | |
| Released | Dec 2025 | Sep 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision, audio, video | text, vision |
| Context window | 1.0M tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | 65.5K tokens | , |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-01 | , |
| Open weights | No | 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, 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).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Gemini 3 ProPricing 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.
- MMLU91.8
- HumanEval95.4
- GPQA91.9
Gemini 3 Pro fits when…
- Massive 1M-token context window
- State-of-the-art vision and document understanding
- Strong reasoning at competitive price
- Long-context tasks, handles 1.0M tokens vs 128K for Pixtral 12B.
- Multimodal needs covering audio, video.
Pixtral 12B fits when…
- Apache-2.0
- Vision in 12B size
- Single-GPU
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
Consider Gemini 3 Flash
Google's high-speed, low-cost mid-tier with the same massive context window, popular for high-volume RAG.
Frequently asked
Is Gemini 3 Pro 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 Pro accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K for Pixtral 12B.Is Gemini 3 Pro or Pixtral 12B better for coding?
Both Gemini 3 Pro 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 Pro is API-only.When were Gemini 3 Pro and Pixtral 12B released?
Gemini 3 Pro was released by Google on 2025-12-09. Pixtral 12B was released by Mistral on 2024-09-17.
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