Model comparison · YOLO26 vs YOLO12

YOLO26 vs YOLO12

A size-tier-by-size-tier comparison of Ultralytics YOLO26 and YOLO12: published COCO accuracy, parameter counts, licensing and which one to reach for. Every figure is the model authors' own, linked to its source.

CompareYOLO26
AgainstYOLO12
8%fewer params

mAP comparison

YOLO26YOLO12
38.043.649.354.960.5mAPNanoSmallMediumLargeExtra largeModel size tierYOLO26n: 40.9 mAP, 2.4M paramsYOLO26s: 48.6 mAP, 9.5M paramsYOLO26m: 53.1 mAP, 20.4M paramsYOLO26l: 55.0 mAP, 24.8M paramsYOLO26x: 57.5 mAP, 55.7M paramsYOLO12n: 40.6 mAP, 2.6M paramsYOLO12s: 48.0 mAP, 9.3M paramsYOLO12m: 52.5 mAP, 20.2M paramsYOLO12l: 53.7 mAP, 26.4M paramsYOLO12x: 55.2 mAP, 59.1M params

YOLO26

  • Nano 40.9
  • Small 48.6
  • Medium 53.1
  • Large 55.0
  • Extra large 57.5

YOLO12

  • Nano 40.6
  • Small 48.0
  • Medium 52.5
  • Large 53.7
  • Extra large 55.2
COCO mAP at 640px, as published by each model’s authors. The y axis spans 38.0 to 60.5 rather than starting at zero, so small differences stay visible. Points are the published checkpoints; the joining lines are for reading order only.

Accuracy and size, tier by tier

Each row pairs the equivalent rung of both size ladders, so the numbers sit side by side at comparable capacity. Every figure is the model authors’ own.

  • COCO mAP50-95 @ 640px
  • mAP: higher is better
  • Params (M): lower is better
YOLO26 and YOLO12 compared at each size tier: published COCO mAP50-95 at 640px and parameter counts in millions.
TierYOLO26YOLO12Δ mAP
ModelmAPParamsModelmAPParams
NanoYOLO26n40.92.4MYOLO12n40.62.6M+0.3
SmallYOLO26s48.69.5MYOLO12s48.09.3M+0.6
MediumYOLO26m53.120.4MYOLO12m52.520.2M+0.6
LargeYOLO26l55.024.8MYOLO12l53.726.4M+1.3
Extra largeYOLO26x57.555.7MYOLO12x55.259.1M+2.3

Δ mAP is YOLO26 minus YOLO12: positive means YOLO26 is ahead at that tier. Sources: YOLO26 docs · YOLO12 docs · YOLO12 paper

Additional information

  • YOLO26 posts the higher published COCO mAP at all 5 matched size tiers, averaging 1.02 mAP ahead of YOLO12. The gap is widest at the extra large tier, where YOLO26 leads by 2.3 mAP. At the top of each range, YOLO26 reaches 57.5 mAP against 55.2.

  • 8% fewer parameters at the nano tier. YOLO26n reaches 40.9 mAP from 2.4M parameters against YOLO12n at 40.6 mAP from 2.6M, so the saving costs 0.3 mAP. No checkpoint from either family matches a larger one from the other outright.

    Parameter count is not latency. It is a good proxy for download size and memory, but throughput depends on your hardware, batch size and export format, so measure on your own target.

YOLO26

NMS-free, end-to-end, and tuned for the edge.

Released
2026 · Ultralytics
License
AGPL-3.0
Framework
Ultralytics (PyTorch)
Tasks
Detect, Segment, Semantic segmentation, Depth, Classify, Pose, OBB, Open-vocabulary

A single-stage detector that outputs final boxes directly, with no separate NMS cleanup step, so it runs faster on CPUs and edge devices while keeping top accuracy.

Download YOLO26 weights →

YOLO12

The attention-centric generation, between YOLO11 and YOLO26.

Released
2025 · Tian, Ye & Doermann (UB / UCAS)
License
AGPL-3.0
Framework
Ultralytics (PyTorch)
Tasks
Detect, Segment, Classify, Pose, OBB

An attention-centric YOLO: area attention and residual ELAN blocks replace some of the pure-convolution stack, buying about a point of mAP over YOLO11 at a similar size.

Download YOLO12 weights →

YOLO26 and YOLO12 against the whole lineage

YOLO26 and YOLO12 against every other detector here, on one shared scale. The rest are dimmed; hover any row to bring it back.

Every YOLO detector in this section, with release year, publisher, published COCO mAP50-95 range at 640px, parameter-count range and licence.
ModelReleasedmAP rangeParams rangeLicence
YOLO26202640.9 to 57.52.4M to 55.7MAGPL-3.0
YOLO12202540.6 to 55.22.6M to 59.1MAGPL-3.0
YOLO11202439.5 to 54.72.6M to 56.9MAGPL-3.0
YOLOv10202438.5 to 54.42.3M to 29.5MAGPL-3.0
YOLOv9202438.3 to 55.62.0M to 58.1MGPL-3.0
YOLOv8202337.3 to 53.93.2M to 68.2MAGPL-3.0
YOLOv5 (v5u)202034.3 to 53.22.6M to 97.2MAGPL-3.0

Every matchup

YOLO26 vs YOLO12YOLO26 vs YOLO11YOLO26 vs YOLOv10YOLO26 vs YOLOv9YOLO26 vs YOLOv8YOLO26 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLO12 vs YOLO11YOLO12 vs YOLOv10YOLO12 vs YOLOv9YOLO12 vs YOLOv8YOLO12 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLO11 vs YOLOv10YOLO11 vs YOLOv9YOLO11 vs YOLOv8YOLO11 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLOv10 vs YOLOv9YOLOv10 vs YOLOv8YOLOv10 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLOv9 vs YOLOv8YOLOv9 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLOv8 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)

Looking for the weights themselves? Download any of these checkpoints from the model-weights hub, or see how the trackers behind them compare in the YOLO tracker benchmarks.