Llama Guard 4 12B vs Voxtral Small
Price and specs side by side · USD per 1M tokens · verified 2026-10-23
// side by side
| metric | Llama Guard 4 12B | Voxtral Small |
|---|
| input / 1M | $0.18 | $0.10 |
| output / 1M | $0.18 | $0.40 |
| blended (3:1) | $0.18 | $0.175 |
| cache read / 1M | — | — |
| context | 163.8K | 32.8K |
| max output | 163.8K | 32K |
| input types | text · image | text · audio · pdf |
| reasoning | no | no |
| tool calling | no | yes |
| structured output | no | yes |
| open weights | yes | yes |
| released | 2025-04-29 | 2025-07-15 |
| knowledge cutoff | n/a | n/a |
| lab | Meta | Mistral |
// monthly cost scenarios
| workload | tokens in / out | Llama Guard 4 12B | Voxtral Small |
|---|
| Chatbot | 10M / 2M | $2.16 | $1.80 |
| RAG app | 50M / 5M | $9.90 | $7.00 |
| Coding agent | 20M / 10M | $5.40 | $6.00 |
// verdict
- Voxtral Small is 2.8% cheaper than Llama Guard 4 12B on a blended 3:1 input/output basis.
- Llama Guard 4 12B has the larger context window (163.8K vs 32.8K tokens).
- Only Voxtral Small supports tool calling.
- Only Voxtral Small supports structured output.
- Only Llama Guard 4 12B accepts image input.
- Chatbot (10M input / 2M output tokens per month): Voxtral Small costs $1.80 vs $2.16 for Llama Guard 4 12B, saving $0.36 per month.
- RAG app (50M input / 5M output tokens per month): Voxtral Small costs $7.00 vs $9.90 for Llama Guard 4 12B, saving $2.90 per month.
- Coding agent (20M input / 10M output tokens per month): Llama Guard 4 12B costs $5.40 vs $6.00 for Voxtral Small, saving $0.60 per month.
// Llama Guard 4 12B or Voxtral Small: which one to choose
- Choose Voxtral Small for cost-sensitive, high-volume workloads.
- Choose Llama Guard 4 12B for long documents and large codebases (163.8K-token context).
- Choose Voxtral Small if you need tool calling.
- Choose Voxtral Small if you need structured output.
- Choose Llama Guard 4 12B if you need image input.