Model Comparison

Grok-3 vs Pixtral-12B

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Pixtral-12B is 40.0x cheaper per token.

Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Grok-3 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMMU), while Pixtral-12B is better at 0 benchmarks.

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat May 30 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Pixtral-12B costs less

For input processing, Grok-3 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 20.0x more expensive than Pixtral-12B ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Grok-3 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 100.0x more expensive than Pixtral-12B ($0.15/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Grok-3 is more expensive than Pixtral-12B.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat May 30 2026 • llm-stats.com
xAI
Grok-3
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerxAI
Mistral AI
Pixtral-12B
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$0.15
Best providerMistral
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Both models have the same input context window of 128,000 tokens. Pixtral-12B can generate longer responses up to 8,192 tokens, while Grok-3 is limited to 8,000 tokens.

xAI
Grok-3
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Pixtral-12B
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Sat May 30 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Grok-3 and Pixtral-12B support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Grok-3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Pixtral-12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-3 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Pixtral-12B uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Grok-3

Proprietary

Closed source

Pixtral-12B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 was released on 2025-02-17, while Pixtral-12B was released on 2024-09-17.

Grok-3 is 5 months newer than Pixtral-12B.

Grok-3

Feb 17, 2025

1.3 years ago

5mo newer
Pixtral-12B

Sep 17, 2024

1.7 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Pixtral-12B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without Pixtral-12B's cutoff date.

Grok-3

Nov 2024

Pixtral-12B

—

Provider Availability

Grok-3 is available from xAI. Pixtral-12B is available from Mistral AI.

Grok-3

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

Pixtral-12B

mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.15/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

xAI
Higher MMMU score (78.0% vs 52.5%)
Mistral AI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights
xAIGrok-3
Mistral AIPixtral-12B
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-3
Mistral AI
Pixtral-12B

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 vs Pixtral-12B.

Which is better, Grok-3 or Pixtral-12B?

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok-3 is made by xAI and Pixtral-12B is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Grok-3 compare to Pixtral-12B in benchmarks?

Grok-3 scores AIME 2024: 93.3%, AIME 2025: 93.3%, GPQA: 84.6%, LiveCodeBench: 79.4%, MMMU: 78.0%. Pixtral-12B scores DocVQA: 90.7%, ChartQA: 81.8%, VQAv2: 78.6%, MT-Bench: 76.8%, HumanEval: 72.0%.

Is Grok-3 cheaper than Pixtral-12B?

Pixtral-12B is 20.0x cheaper for input tokens. Grok-3 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via xai. Pixtral-12B costs $0.15/M input and $0.15/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-3 and Pixtral-12B?

Grok-3 supports 128K tokens and Pixtral-12B supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-3 and Pixtral-12B?

Key differences include input pricing ($3.00 vs $0.15/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-3 and Pixtral-12B?

Grok-3 is developed by xAI and Pixtral-12B is developed by Mistral AI.