Mistral Large 4 vs Pixtral-12B
Mistral Large 4 leads the LLM Stats Score 46.2 to -1.6. Pixtral-12B is 6.9x cheaper per token.
Mistral AI · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Mistral Large 4 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 46.2 to -1.6, ranking #34 overall.
On price, Pixtral-12B is roughly 6.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Mistral Large 4 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Mistral Large 4
- overall performance matters — it scores 46.2 and ranks #34 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026
Choose Pixtral-12B
- cost matters — it's about 6.9x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
18 reported for Mistral Large 4 · 12 for Pixtral-12B
Mistral Large 4 and Pixtral-12Bdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Mistral Large 4 ($0.68/1M tokens) is 4.5x more expensive than Pixtral-12B ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mistral Large 4 ($2.09/1M tokens) is 13.9x more expensive than Pixtral-12B ($0.15/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mistral Large 4 is more expensive than Pixtral-12B.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Mistral Large 4 has 1037.6B more parameters than Pixtral-12B, making it 8367.7% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Mistral Large 4 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Pixtral-12B's 128,000 tokens. Only Pixtral-12B specifies output context (8,192 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Mistral Large 4 and Pixtral-12B support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Mistral Large 4
Pixtral-12B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Mistral Large 4 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.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mistral Large 4 was released on 2026-10-06, while Pixtral-12B was released on 2024-09-17.
Mistral Large 4 is 25 months newer than Pixtral-12B.
Oct 6, 2026
2 days ago
2.1yr newerSep 17, 2024
2.1 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Mistral Large 4 is available from Mistral AI. Pixtral-12B is available from Mistral AI.
Mistral Large 4
Pixtral-12B
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mistral Large 4 and Pixtral-12B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Large 4 vs Pixtral-12B.