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DETR vs YOLO26 vs YOLOv12

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Object Detection · verified 13 Aug 2026

×DETRMetacurrent
×YOLO26Ultralyticscurrent
×YOLOv12Ultralyticscurrent
2 slots left
SpecificationDETRYOLO26YOLOv12
SummaryThe paper that removed anchors and NMS.The latest in the line most people mean by object detection.Attention-centric YOLO, still widely deployed.
COCO mAP~44~55~55
SpeedLowVery highVery high
LicenceApache 2.0AGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
FamilyTransformer, set predictionSingle stageSingle stage
Open vocabularyNoNoNo
Released202020262025
CategoryObject DetectionObject DetectionObject Detection
OfficialMeta ↗Ultralytics ↗Ultralytics ↗

Highlighted rows are where these differ.

DETR

  • Reframed detection as set prediction
  • Slow to train, and every transformer detector descends from it

Best for understanding where RF-DETR came from.

Full spec sheet →

YOLO26

  • Strong on Jetson, Snapdragon and ARM CPUs
  • AGPL-3.0: open-source your derivative work or buy a licence

Best for edge and mobile deployment.

Full spec sheet →

YOLOv12

  • Attention added to the classic single-stage design
  • Same licensing consideration as YOLO26

Best for teams already on the YOLO toolchain.

Full spec sheet →