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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Ministral 8B Instruct vs Gemma 3 12B IT

Gemma 3 12B IT comes out ahead, 55 to 42 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Mistral AI

    Ministral 8B Instruct

    Released Oct 16, 2024

    42/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 8B Instruct
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemma 3 12B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI123.5
    • Price$0.05 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 12B IT

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemma 3 12B IT is our pick

Gemma 3 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityGemma 3 12B ITShared benchmarks: Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5% · Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT $0.075 · Ministral 8B Instruct $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameMinistral 8B Instruct 131,072 · Gemma 3 12B IT 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemma 3 12B ITMinistral 8B Instruct: Text · Gemma 3 12B IT: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMinistral 8B InstructGemma 3 12B IT
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%2739
Price25%89100
Inputs & features15%2550
Context window10%2424
Overall100%42/10055/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Ministral 8B Instruct vs Gemma 3 12B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationMinistral 8B InstructMistral AIGemma 3 12B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—123.5
ECI rank—#138 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.2%39.5% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—16.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15$0.05 (best)
Output$0.15$0.15
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.15$0.075 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 7 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenMistral Research LicenseOpen
API model ID——
API providers17 (best)
ReleasedOct 16, 2024Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Aug 2024
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 8B Instruct$1.80
  • Gemma 3 12B IT$0.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Ministral 8B Instruct or Gemma 3 12B IT?

Gemma 3 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (42). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because Ministral 8B Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, Ministral 8B Instruct or Gemma 3 12B IT?

Gemma 3 12B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Ministral 8B Instruct costs $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). 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 Ministral 8B Instruct (2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond): Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5% and Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5%, Ministral 8B Instruct 27.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 8B Instruct and Gemma 3 12B IT yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemma 3 12B IT leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Ministral 8B Instruct and Gemma 3 12B IT share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192, Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Ministral 8B Instruct accepts text; Gemma 3 12B IT accepts text and images. Gemma 3 12B IT handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Mistral Research License), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Gemma 3 12B IT is the newest, released Mar 12, 2025. Ministral 8B Instruct came out Oct 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 12B IT Aug 2024.

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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