solar-mini vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B vs Pixtral 12B
Too close to call on our weighted score (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65, Pixtral 12B 64, solar-mini 52). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Upstage
solar-mini
52/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
NVIDIALlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B
65/100- ECI—
- PriceFree / Free
- Context128K
Mistral AIPixtral 12B
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context128K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65/100, Pixtral 12B 64/100, solar-mini 52/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B on price. 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 priceLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B Free · solar-mini $0.15 · Pixtral 12B $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and Pixtral 12BLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 128,000 · Pixtral 12B 128,000 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsPixtral 12Bsolar-mini: Text · Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B: Text · Pixtral 12B: Text, Images
- Self-hostingLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and Pixtral 12BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | solar-mini | Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B | Pixtral 12B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 100 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 35 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 52/100 | 65/100 | 64/100 |
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 | solar-miniUpstage | Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BNVIDIA | Pixtral 12BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 | Free (best) | $0.15 |
| Output | $0.15 | Free (best) | $0.15 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 | Free (best) | $0.15 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Upstage API | Official Nvidia API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | solar-mini | nvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-ultra-253b-v1 | pixtral-12b |
| API providers | 1 | 1 | 4 (best) |
| Released | Jun 12, 2024 | Apr 7, 2025 | Sep 1, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2024 | — | 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.
- solar-mini$1.80
- Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BFree
- Pixtral 12B$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: solar-mini, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B or Pixtral 12B?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65/100, Pixtral 12B 64/100, solar-mini 52/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B on price. 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, solar-mini, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B or Pixtral 12B?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is cheaper at Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price). solar-mini costs $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price); Pixtral 12B costs $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is listed as free.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. solar-mini has not been scored yet, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B has not been scored yet and Pixtral 12B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for solar-mini, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and Pixtral 12B 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?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and Pixtral 12B have the largest context windows (128,000 and 128,000 tokens), against 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: solar-mini up to 4,096, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B up to 8,192, Pixtral 12B up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
solar-mini accepts text; Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B accepts text; Pixtral 12B accepts text and images. Pixtral 12B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and Pixtral 12B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; solar-mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is the newest, released Apr 7, 2025. Pixtral 12B came out Sep 1, 2024; solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: solar-mini Sep 2024, 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.
