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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Small 3.2 vs Gemma 3 12B IT

Too close to call on our weighted score (Mistral Small 3.2 60, Gemma 3 12B IT 57). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  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

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Small 3.2 60/100, Gemma 3 12B IT 57/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 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 3.2Capabilities Index (ECI): 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 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Small 3.2: 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 3.2Gemma 3 12B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5545
Price25%89100
Inputs & features15%5050
Context window10%2424
Overall100%60/10057/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Small 3.2 vs Gemma 3 12B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3.2Mistral AIGemma 3 12B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)131.7 (best)123.5
ECI rank#123 of 148 (best)#138 of 148
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)
Output$0.30$0.15 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.15$0.075 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian 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 outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDmistral-small-2506—
API providers67 (best)
ReleasedJun 20, 2025Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 2025Aug 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 3.2$1.60
  • Gemma 3 12B IT$0.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Small 3.2 or Gemma 3 12B IT?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Small 3.2 60/100, Gemma 3 12B IT 57/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 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 3.2 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 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral 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).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.2 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): 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 (126.6–133.9 vs 115.6–129.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.2 49.1%, Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3.2 30.3%, Gemma 3 12B IT 16.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Small 3.2 and Gemma 3 12B IT yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3.2 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 3.2. Maximum output per response: Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384, Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072 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. 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 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemma 3 12B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025, 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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