Head to head
Mistral Nemo 12B Instruct vs Gemma 3 12B
Side-by-side specs, benchmarks, and a verdict by use case.
| Spec | Mistral Nemo 12B Instruct | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Parameters | 12B | 12B |
| Author | Mistral AI | |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Gemma |
| Context window | 0k | 0k |
| VRAM at Q4 | 7 GB | 7 GB |
| VRAM at Q5 | 9 GB | 9 GB |
| VRAM at Q8 | 13 GB | 13 GB |
| VRAM at FP16 | 24 GB | 24 GB |
| Use cases | chat, general, multilingual, fr | chat, general, vision, multilingual |
Verdict
Both models sit in a similar size class. The pick depends on tags, license, and benchmarks rather than raw parameter count.
For unambiguous commercial use, Mistral Nemo 12B Instruct has the safer license (Apache 2.0) compared to Gemma.