Pixtral 12B vs Vision Small
Vision Small comes out ahead, 84 to 40 on our weighted score.
Mistral AIPixtral 12B
40/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context128K
- Our pick
VisparkVision Small
84/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context1M
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Vision Small is our pick
Vision Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 84/100 against Pixtral 12B (40). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 pricePixtral 12BPixtral 12B $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Vision Small unpriced
- Longest contextVision SmallVision Small 1,000,000 · Pixtral 12B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsVision SmallPixtral 12B: Text, Images · Vision Small: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingPixtral 12BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Pixtral 12B | Vision Small |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 50 | 100 |
| Context window | 40% | 24 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 40/100 | 84/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Pixtral 12BMistral AI | Vision SmallVispark |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.15 | — |
| Output | $0.15 | — |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 | — |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | — |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | — |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | pixtral-12b | — |
| API providers | 4 | — |
| Released | Sep 1, 2024 | May 15, 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.
- Pixtral 12B$1.80
- Vision Small—
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Pixtral 12B or Vision Small?
Vision Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 84/100 against Pixtral 12B (40). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Pixtral 12B or Vision Small?
Pixtral 12B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). . At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Pixtral 12B versus . Vision Small has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Pixtral 12B has not been scored yet and Vision Small has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Pixtral 12B and Vision Small 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?
Vision Small has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 128,000 for Pixtral 12B. Maximum output per response: Pixtral 12B up to 128,000, Vision Small up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Pixtral 12B accepts text and images; Vision Small accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Vision Small handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Pixtral 12B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Vision Small is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Pixtral 12B is the newest, released Sep 1, 2024. Vision Small came out May 15, 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.
