solar-mini vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs Pixtral 12B
Pixtral 12B comes out ahead, 64 to 52 and 38 on our weighted score.
Upstage
solar-mini
52/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 235B-A22B
38/100- ECI139.4
- Price$0.70 / $2.80
- Context131K
- Our pick
Mistral AIPixtral 12B
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context128K
Pixtral 12B is our pick
Pixtral 12B is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against solar-mini (52) and Qwen3 235B-A22B (38). It leads 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 pricesolar-mini and Pixtral 12Bsolar-mini $0.15 · Pixtral 12B $0.15 · Qwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 235B-A22BQwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 · Pixtral 12B 128,000 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsPixtral 12Bsolar-mini: Text · Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text · Pixtral 12B: Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen3 235B-A22B and Pixtral 12BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | solar-mini | Qwen3 235B-A22B | Pixtral 12B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 46 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 35 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 52/100 | 38/100 | 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 | Qwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen) | Pixtral 12BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | 139.4 | — |
| ECI rank | — | #103 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 70.7% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 (best) | $0.70 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $0.15 (best) | $2.80 | $0.15 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 (best) | $1.23 | $0.15 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Upstage API | Official Alibaba API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 16,384 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 | qwen3-235b-a22b | pixtral-12b |
| API providers | 1 | 7 (best) | 4 |
| Released | Jun 12, 2024 | Apr 28, 2025 | Sep 1, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2024 | Apr 2025 | 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
- Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
- Pixtral 12B$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: solar-mini, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Pixtral 12B?
Pixtral 12B is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against solar-mini (52) and Qwen3 235B-A22B (38). It leads 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, solar-mini, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Pixtral 12B?
solar-mini is cheaper at $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); Qwen3 235B-A22B costs $0.70 input / $2.80 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 solar-mini versus $0.15 for Pixtral 12B (1× as much) and $1.23 for Qwen3 235B-A22B (8.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. solar-mini has not been scored yet, Qwen3 235B-A22B has an ECI of 139.4 and Pixtral 12B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for solar-mini, Qwen3 235B-A22B 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?
Qwen3 235B-A22B has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Pixtral 12B and 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: solar-mini up to 4,096, Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, Pixtral 12B up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
solar-mini accepts text; Qwen3 235B-A22B accepts text; Pixtral 12B accepts text and images. Pixtral 12B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 235B-A22B and Pixtral 12B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; solar-mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 235B-A22B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. Pixtral 12B came out Sep 1, 2024; solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: solar-mini Sep 2024, Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025, 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.
