Ministral 3 3B vs Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL vs Seed 2.0 Mini
Seed 2.0 Mini comes out ahead, 80 to 74 and 63 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Mistral AIMinistral 3 3B
74/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context262K
NVIDIANemotron Nano 12B v2 VL
63/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.60
- Context128K
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.0 Mini
80/100- ECI—
- Price$0.03 / $0.297
- Context256K
Seed 2.0 Mini is our pick
Seed 2.0 Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Ministral 3 3B (74) and Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (63). It leads on inputs & features. 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 priceSeed 2.0 MiniSeed 2.0 Mini $0.097 · Ministral 3 3B $0.10 · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL $0.30 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMinistral 3 3BMinistral 3 3B 262,144 · Seed 2.0 Mini 256,000 · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNemotron Nano 12B v2 VL and Seed 2.0 MiniMinistral 3 3B: Text, Images · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL: Text, Images, Video · Seed 2.0 Mini: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingMinistral 3 3B and Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VLPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 3 3B | Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL | Seed 2.0 Mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 97 | 75 | 98 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 70 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 24 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 74/100 | 63/100 | 80/100 |
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 | Ministral 3 3BMistral AI | Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VLNVIDIA | Seed 2.0 MiniByteDance Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 | $0.20 | $0.03 (best) |
| Output | $0.10 (best) | $0.60 | $0.297 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.0059 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.10 | $0.30 | $0.097 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.059 / $0.594 |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Median of 3 providers | Official Volcengine Ark API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 32,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache 2.0 | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | nvidia/nemotron-nano-12b-v2-vl | doubao-seed-2-0-mini-260428 |
| API providers | 1 | 4 | 8 (best) |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Oct 28, 2025 | Feb 14, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
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 3B$1.20
- Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL$3.20
- Seed 2.0 Mini$0.891
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 3 3B, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL or Seed 2.0 Mini?
Seed 2.0 Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Ministral 3 3B (74) and Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (63). It leads on inputs & features. 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 3B, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL or Seed 2.0 Mini?
Seed 2.0 Mini is cheaper at $0.03 input / $0.297 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Ministral 3 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); 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 $0.097 per million tokens for Seed 2.0 Mini versus $0.10 for Ministral 3 3B (1× as much) and $0.30 for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (3.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Ministral 3 3B has not been scored yet, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL has not been scored yet and Seed 2.0 Mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 3B, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL and Seed 2.0 Mini 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?
Ministral 3 3B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 2.0 Mini and 128,000 for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3 3B up to 262,144, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL up to 128,000, Seed 2.0 Mini up to 32,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 3 3B accepts text and images; Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL accepts text, images and video; Seed 2.0 Mini accepts text, images and video. Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Ministral 3 3B and Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Seed 2.0 Mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Seed 2.0 Mini is the newest, released Feb 14, 2026. Ministral 3 3B came out 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.
