Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 4 vs Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 65 and 54 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
83/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
Mistral AIMistral Small 4
65/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context256K
NVIDIANemotron 3 Super 120B A12B
54/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.65
- Context262K
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Mistral Small 4 (65) and Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (54). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Mistral Small 4 $0.263 · Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B 262,144 · Mistral Small 4 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Mistral Small 4: Text, Images · Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B: Text
- Self-hostingMistral Small 4 and Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Mistral Small 4 | Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 82 | 74 | 73 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 100 | 70 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 61 | 36 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 83/100 | 65/100 | 54/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle | Mistral Small 4Mistral AI | Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12BNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 (best) | $0.15 | $0.15 |
| Output | $0.40 (best) | $0.60 | $0.65 |
| Cached input | $0.01 (best) | $0.015 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 (best) | $0.263 | $0.275 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Mistral API | Median of 16 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeshigh | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | mistral-small-2603 | — |
| API providers | 24 (best) | 21 | 18 |
| Released | Jun 17, 2025 | Mar 16, 2026 | Mar 11, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Jun 2025 | Jun 2025 |
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
- Mistral Small 4$2.70
- Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B$2.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Mistral Small 4 or Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Mistral Small 4 (65) and Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (54). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Mistral Small 4 or Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B costs $0.15 input / $0.65 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite versus $0.263 for Mistral Small 4 (1.5× as much) and $0.275 for Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (1.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has not been scored yet, Mistral Small 4 has not been scored yet and Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Mistral Small 4 and Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. 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 262,144 for Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B and 256,000 for Mistral Small 4. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Mistral Small 4 up to 256,000, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Mistral Small 4 accepts text and images; Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Mistral Small 4 and Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Mistral Small 4 is the newest, released Mar 16, 2026. Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B came out Mar 11, 2026; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Mistral Small 4 Jun 2025, Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B Jun 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 Nov 2, 2026.
