Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) | NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $0.15 | $0.2 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $0.6 | $0.6 |
Verdict. Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) wins the overall benchmark matchup 1–0 across 1 overlapping categories, but raw benchmark score is only one input to the decision.
Pricing. Both models sit in the budget bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) is strongest on Intelligence Index (12.3). NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) leads on Intelligence Index (4.2).
Speed. Throughput is comparable — 137 tok/s vs 163 tok/s — so generation speed shouldn't drive your choice here. Look at the per-benchmark wins instead.
Provider. Mistral and NVIDIA sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: Mistral tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while NVIDIA often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) costs $13.50 ($162/year); NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) costs $15.00 ($180/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) ≈ $1.95/run, NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) ≈ $2.20/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) ≈ $90/run, NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) ≈ $100/run. Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) becomes more attractive at higher volume — the absolute per-token pricing difference compounds when you ship at scale.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $0.26/M tokens vs $0.30/M for NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning).
Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) wins 1 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning). See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) generates tokens faster at 163 tok/s vs 137 tok/s. Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) also has lower time-to-first-token (0.81s vs 1.73s).
Choose based on your priorities: Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) for lower cost, Mistral Small 4 (Non-reasoning) for stronger benchmark performance, and NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL (Non-reasoning) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.