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Pixtral 12B vs SmolLM2 1.7B

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

Pixtral 12B specs · SmolLM2 1.7B specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceTie

    Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.

  • Context windowPixtral 12B

    Pixtral 12B accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K, 15.6× 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.

  • ModalitiesPixtral 12B

    Pixtral 12B supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for SmolLM2 1.7B.

  • OpennessTie

    Both ship open weights, self-host either one.

On balance Pixtral 12B edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against SmolLM2 1.7B's 0. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Pixtral 12B accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K, 15.6× 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, Pixtral 12B handles text, vision while SmolLM2 1.7B handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both ship open weights, self-host either one.

SmolLM2 1.7B is the newer of the two, released 2 months after Pixtral 12B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Pixtral 12B is usually picked for vision and edge deployment workloads, while SmolLM2 1.7B sees more deployments in on device 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

SpecPixtral 12BSmolLM2 1.7B
ProviderMistralOther
ReleasedSep 2024Nov 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window128K tokens8.2K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Output · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (Apache-2.0)Yes (Apache-2.0)
API availableYesNo

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.

  • Pixtral 12BPricing unavailable
  • SmolLM2 1.7BPricing 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 Pixtral 12B if

Pixtral 12B fits when…

  • Apache-2.0
  • Vision in 12B size
  • Single-GPU
  • Long-context tasks, handles 128K tokens vs 8.2K for SmolLM2 1.7B.
  • Multimodal needs covering vision.
Pick SmolLM2 1.7B if

SmolLM2 1.7B fits when…

  • Truly tiny
  • Apache-2.0
  • Runs on phones
Don't want either?

Consider Mistral Large 2

Mistral's flagship API model, strong on code and reasoning, EU-friendly hosting.

See Mistral Large 2 specsPixtral 12B vs Mistral Large 2SmolLM2 1.7B vs Mistral Large 2

Frequently asked

  • Is Pixtral 12B or SmolLM2 1.7B 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?
    Pixtral 12B accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K for SmolLM2 1.7B.
  • Is Pixtral 12B or SmolLM2 1.7B better for coding?
    Both Pixtral 12B and SmolLM2 1.7B 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. Pixtral 12B is licensed under Apache-2.0; SmolLM2 1.7B under Apache-2.0.
  • When were Pixtral 12B and SmolLM2 1.7B released?
    Pixtral 12B was released by Mistral on 2024-09-17. SmolLM2 1.7B was released by Other on 2024-11-01.
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