ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Small 3.2 vs Gemma 3 12B IT vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 71 to 60 and 57 on our weighted score, though Gemma 3 12B IT is 2.3× cheaper per token.

  1. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2

  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. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    71/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 (60) and Gemma 3 12B IT (57). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 3 12B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 · Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 · Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT $0.075 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Gemma 3 12B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMistral Small 3.2: Text, Images · Gemma 3 12B IT: Text, Images · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2 and Gemma 3 12B ITPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Small 3.2Gemma 3 12B ITGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%554558
Price25%8910086
Inputs & features15%5050100
Context window10%242461
Overall100%60/10057/10071/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Small 3.2 vs Gemma 3 12B IT vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3.2Mistral AIGemma 3 12B ITGoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)131.7123.5133.9 (best)
ECI rank#123 of 148#138 of 148#118 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions49.1% (best)39.5%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics30.3% (best)16.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.05 (best)$0.10
Output$0.30$0.15 (best)$0.40
Cached input——$0.01
Blended (3:1)$0.15$0.075 (best)$0.175
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 7 providersOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsNoNoYes
AudioNoNoYes
VideoNoNoYes
ReasoningNoNoYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenProprietary
API model IDmistral-small-2506—gemini-2.5-flash-lite
API providers6720 (best)
ReleasedJun 20, 2025Mar 12, 2025Jun 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 2025Aug 2024Jan 2025
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 3.2$1.60
  • Gemma 3 12B IT$0.80
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Small 3.2, Gemma 3 12B IT or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 (60) and Gemma 3 12B IT (57). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 3 12B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Mistral Small 3.2, Gemma 3 12B IT or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Gemma 3 12B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). 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 Mistral Small 3.2 (2× as much) and $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (2.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148), Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 (#123 of 148) and Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5 (#138 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (129.8–136.3 vs 126.6–133.9), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Small 3.2, Gemma 3 12B IT and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Gemma 3 12B IT and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384, Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images; Gemma 3 12B IT accepts text and images; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral Small 3.2 and Gemma 3 12B IT publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025; Gemma 3 12B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025, Gemma 3 12B IT Aug 2024, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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