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Amazon Nova Micro 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

Amazon Nova Micro specs · Pixtral 12B specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceAmazon Nova Micro

    Amazon Nova Micro publishes pricing ($0.14 / 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 Amazon Nova Micro.

  • OpennessPixtral 12B

    Pixtral 12B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Amazon Nova Micro is API-only.

On balance Pixtral 12B edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Amazon Nova Micro's 1. Amazon Nova Micro publishes pricing ($0.14 / 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, Amazon Nova Micro handles text 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); Amazon Nova Micro is API-only.

Amazon Nova Micro is the newer of the two, released 3 months after Pixtral 12B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Amazon Nova Micro is usually picked for cheapest llm and fastest llm 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

SpecAmazon Nova MicroPixtral 12B
ProviderOtherMistral
ReleasedDec 2024Sep 2024
Modalitiestexttext, vision
Context window128K tokens128K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$0.035 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Output · 1M$0.14 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff,,
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$0.315 vs ,
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$3.15 vs ,
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$6.09 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.

  • Amazon Nova Micro$0.011
  • 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 Amazon Nova Micro if

Amazon Nova Micro fits when…

  • Lowest-cost frontier-lab model
  • Native AWS integration
  • Generous 128k context for the price tier
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).
  • Multimodal needs covering vision.
Don't want either?

Consider DBRX

Databricks' 132B MoE, a notable 2024 open-weight release tuned for enterprise.

See DBRX specsAmazon Nova Micro vs DBRXPixtral 12B vs DBRX

Frequently asked

  • Is Amazon Nova Micro 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 Amazon Nova Micro and Pixtral 12B ship a 128K-token context window.
  • Is Amazon Nova Micro or Pixtral 12B better for coding?
    Both Amazon Nova Micro 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). Amazon Nova Micro is API-only.
  • When were Amazon Nova Micro and Pixtral 12B released?
    Amazon Nova Micro was released by Other on 2024-12-03. Pixtral 12B was released by Mistral on 2024-09-17.
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