Pixtral Large (25.02) vs Pixtral 12B vs Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct
Pixtral 12B comes out ahead, 64 to 33 and 28 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Mistral AIPixtral Large (25.02)
33/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context128K
- Our pickMistral AI
Pixtral 12B
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context128K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct
28/100- ECI—
- Price$1.50 / $7.50
- Context262K
Pixtral 12B is our pick
Pixtral 12B is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Pixtral Large (25.02) (33) and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on price. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct wins on context window. 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 pricePixtral 12BPixtral 12B $0.15 · Pixtral Large (25.02) $3.00 · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 262,144 · Pixtral Large (25.02) 128,000 · Pixtral 12B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsPixtral Large (25.02) and Pixtral 12BPixtral Large (25.02): Text, Images · Pixtral 12B: Text, Images · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingPixtral 12B and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Pixtral Large (25.02) | Pixtral 12B | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 27 | 89 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 50 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 33/100 | 64/100 | 28/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Pixtral Large (25.02)Mistral AI | Pixtral 12BMistral AI | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $2.00 | $0.15 (best) | $1.50 |
| Output | $6.00 | $0.15 (best) | $7.50 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.00 | $0.15 (best) | $3.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $2.70 / $13.50 |
| Price source | Median of 3 providers | Official Mistral API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | pixtral-12b | qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct |
| API providers | 3 | 4 | 7 (best) |
| Released | Apr 8, 2025 | Sep 1, 2024 | Apr 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Sep 2024 | Apr 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Pixtral Large (25.02)$32.00
- Pixtral 12B$1.80
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct$30.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Pixtral Large (25.02), Pixtral 12B or Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct?
Pixtral 12B is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Pixtral Large (25.02) (33) and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (28). It leads on price. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct wins on context window. 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, Pixtral Large (25.02), Pixtral 12B or Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct?
Pixtral 12B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Pixtral Large (25.02) costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers); Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct costs $1.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $3.00 for Pixtral Large (25.02) (20× as much) and $3.00 for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (20× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Pixtral Large (25.02) has not been scored yet, Pixtral 12B has not been scored yet and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Pixtral Large (25.02), Pixtral 12B and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for Pixtral Large (25.02) and 128,000 for Pixtral 12B. Maximum output per response: Pixtral Large (25.02) up to 8,192, Pixtral 12B up to 128,000, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Pixtral Large (25.02) accepts text and images; Pixtral 12B accepts text and images; Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct accepts text. Pixtral Large (25.02) handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Pixtral 12B and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Pixtral Large (25.02) is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Pixtral Large (25.02) is the newest, released Apr 8, 2025. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct came out Apr 2025; Pixtral 12B came out Sep 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Pixtral 12B Sep 2024, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct Apr 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.
