Gemma 3 12B vs Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral Medium 3.5 leads Gemma 3 12B on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 14.2 to 3.8, and Gemma 3 12B costs 46.2x less per output token ($0.1625 vs $7.50 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 35 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemma 3 12B or Mistral Medium 3.5: which to pick
Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a coding score, 25.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Gemma 3 12B has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Gemma 3 12B for output tokens 46.2x cheaper ($0.1625 vs $7.50 per million).
- Shared results
- 35
- Gemma 3 12B only
- 8
- Mistral Medium 3.5 only
- 46
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 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
Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral Medium 3.5 leads, 14.2 against 3.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral Medium 3.5 leads, 7.0 against 0.1.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a GPQA Diamond result, 34.9%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a MMLU Pro result, 75.3%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1142.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral Medium 3.5 takes 262K tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemma 3 12B
Gemma 3 12B $0.0002, Mistral Medium 3.5 $0.0053 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has the number, $6.02.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemma 3 12B not benchmarked, Mistral Medium 3.5 25.5 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 45.1 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- τ²-Bench Telecom: Gemma 3 12B 10.8% against Mistral Medium 3.5 94.2%, 83.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemma 3 12B $0.1625 against Mistral Medium 3.5 $7.50 per million output tokens, 46.2x apart.
- Context window
- Gemma 3 12B takes 131K tokens, Mistral Medium 3.5 262K.
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 | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 5 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 2 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 5 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 0 | 15 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 35 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index05
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1264 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| AA Coding Index | 5.8 | 46.9 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 66.4% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 5.1% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 39.0% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.7% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| SciCode | 16.4% | 40.2% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 0.8% | 33.3% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 764.0 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1281 | 1460 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1313 | 1458 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1254 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1308 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| SciCode | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 3.8 | 14.2 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.5 | 141.4 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 0.1 | 7.0 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 32.1% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.5% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 9.1% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 11.2% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 10.8% | 94.2% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 30.4% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 34.9% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 34.9% | 74.8% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.2% | 13.8% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 39.5% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1309 | 1436 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1248 | 1432 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1318 | 1445 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1254 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1230 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | Not measured | 41.4% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | 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 |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 9.0% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1307 | 1431 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1336 | 1440 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 75.3% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 44.2% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.8% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.0% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 28.9% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 33.8% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 59.5% | Not measured | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1366 | 1428 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1334 | 1409 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1381 | 1437 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1376 | 1426 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1142 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1079 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1079 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1120 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1061 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1121 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 950 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1063 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index015
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.6% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.7% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 34.8% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| IFBench | 36.7% | 68.8% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 8.3% | 69.3% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| DTBench | 48.8% | 75.5% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMCA | 4.5% | 26.1% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| Surface Evolver Bench | Not measured | 26.9% | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1421 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1299 | 1415 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1331 | 1374 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1222 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1349 | 1433 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1318 | 1404 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1444 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1370 | 1453 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1384 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1448 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1411 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1335 | 1395 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1430 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1334 | 1423 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1317 | 1415 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1307 | 1384 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1297 | 1382 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1240 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1244 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1233 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1216 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1198 | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Mistral Medium 3.5 | 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
Gemma 3 12B 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 Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Mistral AI | |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | March 13, 2025 | April 30, 2026 |
| Context window | 131K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.075 | $1.50 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.1625 | $7.50 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 25.5 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $6.02 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemma 3 12B better than Mistral Medium 3.5 for coding?
Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a coding score, 25.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Gemma 3 12B has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemma 3 12B for output tokens 46.2x cheaper ($0.1625 vs $7.50 per million).
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Gemma 3 12B costs $0.075 per million input tokens and $0.1625 per million output tokens; Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50 and $7.50. Cost per solved task is known for Mistral Medium 3.5 only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemma 3 12B or Mistral Medium 3.5?
Mistral Medium 3.5, with 262K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemma 3 12B vs Mistral Medium 3.5 comparison based on?
35 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemma 3 12B's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Mistral Medium 3.5's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.