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GPT-4.1 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

GPT-4.1 specs · Pixtral 12B specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceGPT-4.1

    GPT-4.1 publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Pixtral 12B does not.

  • Context windowGPT-4.1

    GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 128K, 7.8× 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.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text, vision.

  • OpennessPixtral 12B

    Pixtral 12B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); GPT-4.1 is API-only.

On balance GPT-4.1 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Pixtral 12B's 1. GPT-4.1 publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Pixtral 12B does not. GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 128K, 7.8× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Pixtral 12B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); GPT-4.1 is API-only.

GPT-4.1 is the newer of the two, released 7 months after Pixtral 12B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-4.1 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

SpecGPT-4.1Pixtral 12B
ProviderOpenAIMistral
ReleasedApr 2025Sep 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext, vision
Context window1M tokens128K tokens
Max output32.8K tokens,
Input · 1M$2.00 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Output · 1M$8.00 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff2024-06,
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$18.00 vs ,
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$180 vs ,
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$348 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.

  • GPT-4.1$0.600
  • 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.

GPT-4.1Pixtral 12B
  • MMLU86.2
  • HumanEval90.6
Pick GPT-4.1 if

GPT-4.1 fits when…

  • 1M-token context window, strong for long-doc workloads
  • Mature SDK and tooling integrations
  • Reliable JSON-mode and function-calling
  • Long-context tasks, handles 1M tokens vs 128K for Pixtral 12B.
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 GPT-5.5

OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.

See GPT-5.5 specsGPT-4.1 vs GPT-5.5Pixtral 12B vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is GPT-4.1 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?
    GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 128K for Pixtral 12B.
  • Is GPT-4.1 or Pixtral 12B better for coding?
    Both GPT-4.1 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). GPT-4.1 is API-only.
  • When were GPT-4.1 and Pixtral 12B released?
    GPT-4.1 was released by OpenAI on 2025-04-14. Pixtral 12B was released by Mistral on 2024-09-17.
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