AI model comparison
Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Gemma 3 12B
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Mistral
Ministral 3 3B 2512
The smallest model in the Ministral 3 family, Ministral 3 3B is a powerful, efficient tiny language model with vision capabilities.
- Input / 1M
- $0.10
- Output / 1M
- $0.10
- Context
- 131K
Gemma 3 12B
Gemma 3 introduces multimodality, supporting vision-language input and text outputs.
- Input / 1M
- $0.05
- Output / 1M
- $0.15
- Context
- 131K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Gemma 3 12B
1.4x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Ministral 3 3B 2512
4.8 vs 3.8 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Tie
131K vs 131K tokens
Newer release
Ministral 3 3B 2512
Released December 2, 2025
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Ministral 3 3B 25124.8Gemma 3 12B3.8Coding index
Ministral 3 3B 25124.8Gemma 3 12B5.8Agentic index
Ministral 3 3B 25120.8Gemma 3 12B0.1Pricing
Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Gemma 3 12B API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.10 | $0.05 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.10 | $0.15 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.01 | Not available |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Ministral 3 3B 2512$0.25Gemma 3 12B$0.17Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Ministral 3 3B 2512$3.40$0.70 cachedGemma 3 12B$2.10Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Ministral 3 3B 2512$15.20$1.70 cachedGemma 3 12B$7.80Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 131K tokens | 131K tokens |
| Max output | 105K tokens | 16K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | December 2, 2025 | March 13, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Not supported | Not supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Ministral 3 3B 2512View full model details- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Mistral Nemo
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Nova Micro 1.0
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Mistral Small 3
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Ministral 3 8B 2512
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Phi 4
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Ministral 3 14B 2512
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Granite 4.0 Micro
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Gemma 3 4B
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 vs Llama 3.2 1B Instruct
Our take
Gemma 3 12B is 1.4x cheaper for a typical chat. Ministral 3 3B 2512 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (4.8 vs 3.8). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Ministral 3 3B 2512 or Gemma 3 12B cheaper?
Gemma 3 12B is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Gemma 3 12B costs $0.05 per 1M input tokens and $0.15 per 1M output tokens, while Ministral 3 3B 2512 costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.10 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Ministral 3 3B 2512 or Gemma 3 12B?
Ministral 3 3B 2512 supports up to 131K tokens of context, compared with 131K for Gemma 3 12B.
Is Ministral 3 3B 2512 smarter than Gemma 3 12B?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Ministral 3 3B 2512 scores 4.8 and Gemma 3 12B scores 3.8, putting Ministral 3 3B 2512 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Ministral 3 3B 2512 and Gemma 3 12B at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Ministral 3 3B 2512 and Gemma 3 12B answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Ministral 3 3B 2512 and Gemma 3 12B at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.