Gemma 3 12B vs Ministral 3 3B 2512
Ministral 3 3B 2512 leads Gemma 3 12B on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 4.8 to 3.8, and Ministral 3 3B 2512 costs 1.6x less per output token ($0.10 vs $0.1625 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 3 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemma 3 12B or Ministral 3 3B 2512: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Gemma 3 12B for work measured by AA Intelligence Index or AA Agentic Index, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 3
- Gemma 3 12B only
- 40
- Ministral 3 3B 2512 only
- 4
- Like-for-like categories
- 3 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Ministral 3 3B 2512
Ministral 3 3B 2512 leads, 4.8 against 3.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Ministral 3 3B 2512
Ministral 3 3B 2512 leads, 0.8 against 0.1.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Ministral 3 3B 2512 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1027.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 131K tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Ministral 3 3B 2512
Gemma 3 12B $0.0002, Ministral 3 3B 2512 $0.0001 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemma 3 12B not benchmarked, Ministral 3 3B 2512 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Coding, 1.0 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- AA Coding Index: Gemma 3 12B 5.8 against Ministral 3 3B 2512 4.8, 1.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemma 3 12B $0.1625 against Ministral 3 3B 2512 $0.10 per million output tokens, 1.6x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 131K tokens.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Gemma 3 12B | Bars | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 1 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 2 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index10
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Coding Index | 5.8 | 4.8 | Gemma 3 12B |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.7% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| SciCode | 16.4% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 0.8% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1281 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1313 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| SciCode | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 3.8 | 4.8 | Ministral 3 3B 2512 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.5 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 0.1 | 0.8 | Ministral 3 3B 2512 |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 10.8% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 30.4% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 39 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 34.9% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.2% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 39.5% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1309 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1248 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1318 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 18.3 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 18.3% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 16.7% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1307 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1336 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 59.5% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1366 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1334 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1381 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1376 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1027 | Only Ministral 3 3B 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 948 | Only Ministral 3 3B 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 962 | Only Ministral 3 3B 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1009 | Only Ministral 3 3B 2512 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index15 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 36.7% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 8.3% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| DTBench | 48.8% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMCA | 4.5% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text | 1334 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1299 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1331 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1349 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1318 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1370 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1335 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1334 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1317 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1307 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1297 | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Ministral 3 3B 2512 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemma 3 12B costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemma 3 12B costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Google Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Ministral 3 3B 2512 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Mistral AI | |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | March 13, 2025 | December 2, 2025 |
| Context window | 131K | 131K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.075 | $0.10 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.1625 | $0.10 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemma 3 12B better than Ministral 3 3B 2512 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemma 3 12B for work measured by AA Intelligence Index or AA Agentic Index, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Ministral 3 3B 2512?
Gemma 3 12B costs $0.075 per million input tokens and $0.1625 per million output tokens; Ministral 3 3B 2512 costs $0.10 and $0.10. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemma 3 12B or Ministral 3 3B 2512?
Neither: both take 131K tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Gemma 3 12B vs Ministral 3 3B 2512 comparison based on?
3 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemma 3 12B's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Ministral 3 3B 2512's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.