NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL
Analysis Summary
Nemotron Nano 12B VL is a compact vision-language model from NVIDIA with tool use and function calling, but its measured intelligence index sits well below the broader field despite reasonable scores on knowledge tasks like MMLU-Pro.
It suits simple multimodal classification or lightweight visual question-answering rather than complex reasoning, coding, or long-form content work. Businesses needing dependable agentic behaviour should look elsewhere.
At this price point the free variant of the same model is generally the better choice unless the paid tier offers service guarantees not reflected in benchmarks.
Assessed July 25, 2026
Editorial notes
The paid Nemotron Nano 12B VL adds vision and function calling from NVIDIA but scores low on reasoning benchmarks relative to its price.
Rankings consider pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, and real-world applicability and are refreshed as new models launch. Feedback?
DFO Verdict
The paid Nemotron Nano 12B VL adds vision and function calling from NVIDIA but scores low on reasoning benchmarks relative to its price.
Benchmark scores
Magenta = intelligence · Ink = technical/agentic · Cyan = content & long-context · Grey = community benchmarks. Data: Artificial Analysis, Hugging Face.
4.6 Intelligence Index·19.3 Agentic Index·26.7 Math Index
How NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL compares
NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL ranks #342 of 401 AI models we track for overall intelligence, #73 of 157 for agentic tasks. Its 131K-token context window is larger than 51% of the models we list. At $0.20 per million input tokens it is cheaper than 57% of comparable models.
Dark bar = input · light bar = output, scaled to the priciest peer.
1M tokens ≈ 8 full-length novels or ~2,500 pages of business documents in a single request.
Strongest on value. The pulled-in intelligence corner is the trade-off, and if the shape matters more than the price, this is your model.
Compare shapes side-by-side →Pricing
| Token Type | Cost per 1M tokens | Cost per 1K tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.20 | $0.000200 |
| Output | $0.60 | $0.000600 |
What would NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL cost your business?
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A website chatbot handling around 100 customer conversations a day, a few short messages each.
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Talk to our teamAbout NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL
NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 2 VL is a 12-billion-parameter open multimodal reasoning model designed for video understanding and document intelligence. It introduces a hybrid Transformer-Mamba architecture, combining transformer-level accuracy with Mamba’s..
Frequently asked questions about NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL
How much does NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL cost?
NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL costs $0.20 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens.
What is the context window of NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL?
NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL has a context window of 131,072 tokens (131K).
What can NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL do?
NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL supports image/vision input.
Who created NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL?
NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL is developed by NVIDIA and was released on October 28, 2025.
