Model Comparison

o3-mini vs Pixtral-12BWhich is better in 2026?

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Pixtral-12B is 12.8x cheaper per token.

Verdict: o3-mini vs Pixtral-12B — which is better?

o3-mini (by OpenAI) and Pixtral-12B (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

o3-mini outperforms in 3 benchmarks (IFEval, MATH, MMLU), while Pixtral-12B is better at 0 benchmarks. o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, Pixtral-12B is roughly 12.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

o3-mini also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose o3-mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025

Choose Pixtral-12B if…

  • cost matters — it's about 12.8x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

o3-mini outperforms in 3 benchmarks (IFEval, MATH, MMLU), while Pixtral-12B is better at 0 benchmarks.

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 06 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Pixtral-12B costs less

For input processing, o3-mini ($1.10/1M tokens) is 7.3x more expensive than Pixtral-12B ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, o3-mini ($4.40/1M tokens) is 29.3x more expensive than Pixtral-12B ($0.15/1M tokens).

In conclusion, o3-mini is more expensive than Pixtral-12B.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Jun 06 2026 • llm-stats.com
OpenAI
o3-mini
Input tokens$1.10
Output tokens$4.40
Best providerAzure
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

o3-mini accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Pixtral-12B's 128,000 tokens. o3-mini can generate longer responses up to 100,000 tokens, while Pixtral-12B is limited to 8,192 tokens.

OpenAI
o3-mini
Input200,000 tokens
Output100,000 tokens
Mistral AI
Pixtral-12B
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Sat Jun 06 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Pixtral-12B supports multimodal inputs, whereas o3-mini does not.

Pixtral-12B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

o3-mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Pixtral-12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

o3-mini 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.

o3-mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Pixtral-12B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30, while Pixtral-12B was released on 2024-09-17.

o3-mini is 5 months newer than Pixtral-12B.

o3-mini

Jan 30, 2025

1.3 years ago

4mo newer
Pixtral-12B

Sep 17, 2024

1.7 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

o3-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-09-30, while Pixtral-12B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm o3-mini's training data extends to 2023-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Pixtral-12B's cutoff date.

o3-mini

Sep 2023

Pixtral-12B

—

Provider Availability

o3-mini is available from Azure, OpenAI. Pixtral-12B is available from Mistral AI.

o3-mini

azure logo
Azure
Input Price:Input: $1.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.40/1M
openai logo
OpenAI
Input Price:Input: $1.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.40/1M

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

OpenAI
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Higher IFEval score (93.9% vs 61.3%)
Higher MATH score (97.9% vs 48.1%)
Higher MMLU score (86.9% vs 69.2%)
Mistral AI
Supports multimodal inputs
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
OpenAI
o3-mini
Mistral AI
Pixtral-12B

FAQ

Common questions about o3-mini vs Pixtral-12B.

Which is better, o3-mini or Pixtral-12B?

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. o3-mini is made by OpenAI 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 o3-mini compare to Pixtral-12B in benchmarks?

o3-mini scores COLLIE: 98.7%, MATH: 97.9%, IFEval: 93.9%, MGSM: 92.0%, AIME 2024: 87.3%. Pixtral-12B scores DocVQA: 90.7%, ChartQA: 81.8%, VQAv2: 78.6%, MT-Bench: 76.8%, HumanEval: 72.0%.

Is o3-mini cheaper than Pixtral-12B?

Pixtral-12B is 7.3x cheaper for input tokens. o3-mini costs $1.10/M input and $4.40/M output via azure. Pixtral-12B costs $0.15/M input and $0.15/M output via mistral.

What are the context window sizes for o3-mini and Pixtral-12B?

o3-mini supports 200K 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 o3-mini and Pixtral-12B?

Key differences include context window (200K vs 128K), input pricing ($1.10 vs $0.15/M), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes o3-mini and Pixtral-12B?

o3-mini is developed by OpenAI and Pixtral-12B is developed by Mistral AI.

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