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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Small 3.1 24B vs Gemma 3 12B IT

Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemma 3 12B IT 57, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.1 24B

    Released Mar 17, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI127.5
    • Price$0.229 / $0.436
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.1 24B

  2. Google

    Gemma 3 12B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    57/100
    • 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

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Gemma 3 12B IT 57/100, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.1 24B for raw capability, Gemma 3 12B IT on price and Gemma 3 12B IT for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.1 24BCapabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 · Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT $0.075 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images · 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
MeasureWeightMistral Small 3.1 24BGemma 3 12B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5045
Price25%76100
Inputs & features15%6050
Context window10%2424
Overall100%55/10057/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Small 3.1 24B vs Gemma 3 12B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AIGemma 3 12B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)127.5 (best)123.5
ECI rank#132 of 148 (best)#138 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.5% (best)39.5%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics5.8%16.7% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.229$0.05 (best)
Output$0.436$0.15 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.281$0.075 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersMedian of 7 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID——
API providers27 (best)
ReleasedMar 17, 2025Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJun 2024Aug 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.

  • Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
  • Gemma 3 12B IT$0.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Small 3.1 24B or Gemma 3 12B IT?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Gemma 3 12B IT 57/100, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.1 24B for raw capability, Gemma 3 12B IT on price and Gemma 3 12B IT for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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). Mistral Small 3.1 24B costs $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). 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 $0.281 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B (3.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 of 148) and Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5 (#138 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (122.6–129.4 vs 115.6–129.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%, Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemma 3 12B IT 16.7%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 5.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Small 3.1 24B and Gemma 3 12B IT yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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?

Gemma 3 12B IT has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B. Maximum output per response: Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384, Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B accepts text and images; Gemma 3 12B IT accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B is the newest, released Mar 17, 2025. Gemma 3 12B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3.1 24B Jun 2024, 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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