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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Gemma 3 12B IT vs Mistral Small 3.2

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 71 to 60 and 57 on our weighted score, though Gemma 3 12B IT is 2.3× cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    71/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  2. Google

    Gemma 3 12B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI123.5
    • Price$0.05 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 12B IT

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 (60) and Gemma 3 12B IT (57). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 3 12B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 · Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 · Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT $0.075 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Gemma 3 12B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Gemma 3 12B IT: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingGemma 3 12B IT and Mistral Small 3.2Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemma 3 12B ITMistral Small 3.2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%584555
Price25%8610089
Inputs & features15%1005050
Context window10%612424
Overall100%71/10057/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Gemma 3 12B IT vs Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleGemma 3 12B ITGoogleMistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)133.9 (best)123.5131.7
ECI rank#118 of 148 (best)#138 of 148#123 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—39.5%49.1% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—16.7%30.3% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.05 (best)$0.10
Output$0.40$0.15 (best)$0.30
Cached input$0.01——
Blended (3:1)$0.175$0.075 (best)$0.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 7 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-lite—mistral-small-2506
API providers20 (best)76
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Mar 12, 2025Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Aug 2024Mar 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • Gemma 3 12B IT$0.80
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Gemma 3 12B IT or Mistral Small 3.2?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 (60) and Gemma 3 12B IT (57). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 3 12B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Gemma 3 12B IT or Mistral Small 3.2?

Gemma 3 12B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.075 per million tokens for Gemma 3 12B IT versus $0.15 for Mistral Small 3.2 (2× as much) and $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (2.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148), Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 (#123 of 148) and Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5 (#138 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (129.8–136.3 vs 126.6–133.9), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Gemma 3 12B IT and Mistral Small 3.2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Gemma 3 12B IT and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Gemma 3 12B IT accepts text and images; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Gemma 3 12B IT and Mistral Small 3.2 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025; Gemma 3 12B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Gemma 3 12B IT Aug 2024, Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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