Ministral 8B Instruct vs Pixtral 12B
Pixtral 12B comes out ahead, 64 to 57 on our weighted score.
Mistral AIMinistral 8B Instruct
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context131K
- Our pickMistral AI
Pixtral 12B
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context128K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Pixtral 12B is our pick
Pixtral 12B is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (57). 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 priceSame priceMinistral 8B Instruct $0.15 · Pixtral 12B $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMinistral 8B InstructMinistral 8B Instruct 131,072 · Pixtral 12B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsPixtral 12BMinistral 8B Instruct: Text · Pixtral 12B: Text, Images
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 8B Instruct | Pixtral 12B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 64/100 |
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 8B InstructMistral AI | Pixtral 12BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 27.2% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.15 | $0.15 |
| Output | $0.15 | $0.15 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 | $0.15 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenMistral Research License | Open |
| API model ID | — | pixtral-12b |
| API providers | 1 | 4 (best) |
| Released | Oct 16, 2024 | Sep 1, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Sep 2024 |
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
- Pixtral 12B$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 8B Instruct or Pixtral 12B?
Pixtral 12B is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Ministral 8B Instruct (57). 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 8B Instruct or Pixtral 12B?
Ministral 8B Instruct and Pixtral 12B cost the same: $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Ministral 8B Instruct has not been scored yet and Pixtral 12B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 8B Instruct and Pixtral 12B 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 8B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Pixtral 12B. Maximum output per response: Ministral 8B Instruct up to 8,192, Pixtral 12B up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 8B Instruct accepts text; Pixtral 12B accepts text and images. Pixtral 12B 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?
Ministral 8B Instruct is the newest, released Oct 16, 2024. Pixtral 12B came out Sep 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Pixtral 12B Sep 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.
Related comparisons
- Add Llama-3.1-8B-InstructThree-way comparison
- Ministral 8B Instruct vs Llama-3.1-8B-InstructMeta · ECI 116.6
- Ministral 8B Instruct vs Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle · ECI 116.1
- Ministral 8B Instruct vs Qwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) · ECI 118.5
- Ministral 8B Instruct vs Phi-4-miniMicrosoft
- Pixtral 12B vs Llama-3.2-3BMeta
- Pixtral 12B vs solar-miniUpstage
