Llama Guard 4 12B vs Mistral Large 2
Llama Guard 4 12B (2025) and Mistral Large 2 (2025) are compact production models from AI at Meta and MistralAI. Llama Guard 4 12B ships a 164K-token context window, while Mistral Large 2 ships a 128K-token context window. On pricing, Llama Guard 4 12B costs $0.18/1M input tokens versus $0.48/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Llama Guard 4 12B is ~167% cheaper at $0.18/1M; pay for Mistral Large 2 only for vision-heavy evaluation.
Specs
| Released | 2025-04-05 | 2025-11-25 |
| Context window | 164K | 128K |
| Parameters | — | 123B |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Open Source | True |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | 2025-07 |
Pricing and availability
| Llama Guard 4 12B | Mistral Large 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.18/1M tokens | $0.48/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.18/1M tokens | $2.4/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Llama Guard 4 12B | Mistral Large 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Mistral Large 2, multimodal input: Mistral Large 2, function calling: Mistral Large 2, and tool use: Mistral Large 2. Both models share structured outputs, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Llama Guard 4 12B lists $0.18/1M input and $0.18/1M output tokens, while Mistral Large 2 lists $0.48/1M input and $2.4/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Llama Guard 4 12B lower by about $0.88 per million blended tokens. Availability is 3 providers versus 4, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama Guard 4 12B when long-context analysis, larger context windows, and lower input-token cost are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Large 2 when vision-heavy evaluation and broader provider choice are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Llama Guard 4 12B or Mistral Large 2?
Llama Guard 4 12B supports 164K tokens, while Mistral Large 2 supports 128K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Llama Guard 4 12B or Mistral Large 2?
Llama Guard 4 12B is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama Guard 4 12B costs $0.18/1M input and $0.18/1M output tokens. Mistral Large 2 costs $0.48/1M input and $2.4/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Llama Guard 4 12B or Mistral Large 2 open source?
Llama Guard 4 12B is listed under Open Source. Mistral Large 2 is listed under True. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Llama Guard 4 12B or Mistral Large 2?
Mistral Large 2 has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for multimodal input, Llama Guard 4 12B or Mistral Large 2?
Mistral Large 2 has the clearer documented multimodal input signal in this comparison. If multimodal input is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Llama Guard 4 12B and Mistral Large 2?
Llama Guard 4 12B is available on NVIDIA NIM, Replicate API, and OpenRouter. Mistral Large 2 is available on OpenRouter, IBM watsonx, AWS Bedrock, and Mistral AI Studio. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.