ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Ministral 3 14B vs Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL

Too close to call on our weighted score (Ministral 3 14B 63, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 63). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Mistral AI

    Ministral 3 14B

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    63/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.268 / $0.325
    • Context262K
  2. NVIDIA

    Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL

    Released Oct 28, 2025Deprecated

    63/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.60
    • Context128K
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Ministral 3 14B 63/100, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 63/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Ministral 3 14B on price and Ministral 3 14B for long inputs. 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 priceMinistral 3 14BMinistral 3 14B $0.282 · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL $0.30 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMinistral 3 14BMinistral 3 14B 262,144 · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsNemotron Nano 12B v2 VLMinistral 3 14B: Text, Images · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMinistral 3 14BNemotron Nano 12B v2 VL
Price50%7675
Inputs & features30%6070
Context window20%3724
Overall100%63/10063/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Ministral 3 14B vs Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL specifications side by side
SpecificationMinistral 3 14BMistral AINemotron Nano 12B v2 VLNVIDIA
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.268$0.20 (best)
Output$0.325 (best)$0.60
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.282 (best)$0.30
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersMedian of 3 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0Open
API model ID—nvidia/nemotron-nano-12b-v2-vl
API providers24 (best)
ReleasedDec 2, 2025Oct 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——
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.

  • Ministral 3 14B$3.33
  • Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL$3.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Ministral 3 14B or Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Ministral 3 14B 63/100, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 63/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Ministral 3 14B on price and Ministral 3 14B for long inputs. 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, Ministral 3 14B or Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL?

Ministral 3 14B is cheaper at $0.268 input / $0.325 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL costs $0.20 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers; free on Nvidia). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.282 per million tokens for Ministral 3 14B versus $0.30 for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (1.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Ministral 3 14B has not been scored yet and Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 14B and Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Ministral 3 14B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3 14B up to 262,144, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Ministral 3 14B accepts text and images; Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL accepts text, images and video. Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Ministral 3 14B is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL came out Oct 28, 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.