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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL vs Ministral 3 3B

Ministral 3 3B comes out ahead, 74 to 63 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. NVIDIA

    Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL

    Released Oct 28, 2025Deprecated

    63/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL
  2. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Ministral 3 3B

    Released Dec 2, 2025

    74/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.10
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Ministral 3 3B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Ministral 3 3B is our pick

Ministral 3 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (63). It leads on price and context window. Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL wins 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 priceMinistral 3 3BMinistral 3 3B $0.10 · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL $0.30 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMinistral 3 3BMinistral 3 3B 262,144 · Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsNemotron Nano 12B v2 VLNemotron Nano 12B v2 VL: Text, Images, Video · Ministral 3 3B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightNemotron Nano 12B v2 VLMinistral 3 3B
Price50%7597
Inputs & features30%7060
Context window20%2437
Overall100%63/10074/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL vs Ministral 3 3B specifications side by side
SpecificationNemotron Nano 12B v2 VLNVIDIAMinistral 3 3BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.20$0.10 (best)
Output$0.60$0.10 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.30$0.10 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output128,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache 2.0
API model IDnvidia/nemotron-nano-12b-v2-vl—
API providers4 (best)1
ReleasedOct 28, 2025Dec 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——
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.

  • Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL$3.20
  • Ministral 3 3B$1.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL or Ministral 3 3B?

Ministral 3 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (63). It leads on price and context window. Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL wins 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, Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL or Ministral 3 3B?

Ministral 3 3B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL costs $0.20 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers; free on Nvidia). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.10 per million tokens for Ministral 3 3B versus $0.30 for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL has not been scored yet and Ministral 3 3B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL and Ministral 3 3B 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 3 3B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL. Maximum output per response: Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL up to 128,000, Ministral 3 3B up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL accepts text, images and video; Ministral 3 3B accepts text and images. Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Ministral 3 3B is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL came out Oct 28, 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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