Model comparison
Seed 2.0 Pro vs Gemma 3 12B
Seed 2.0 Pro is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.2 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 15× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Seed 2.0 Pro's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.
ByteDance Seed
GoogleSummary
- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Seed 2.0 Pro scores higher in 8 categories and Gemma 3 12B in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Seed 2.0 Pro leads 39.3 to 22.3.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.50 / $3 for Seed 2.0 Pro.
- Seed 2.0 Pro accepts more context: 256K tokens versus 131K.
- Gemma 3 12B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ByteDance Seed | |
| Noometry Index | 43.2 | 32.1 |
| Released | 2026-02-14 | 2025-03-12 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 256K | 131K |
| Max output | 128K | 8K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.50 | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $3 | $0.15 |
| Results tracked | 20 | 24 |
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Category by category
Coding Seed 2.0 Pro leads
Seed 2.0 Pro: 43.5 (#86), Gemma 3 12B: 31.7 (#280)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1472 | 1281 |
| SciCode | — | 17.4% |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Seed 2.0 Pro: —, Gemma 3 12B: 25.5 (#108)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 30.4% |
Reasoning Seed 2.0 Pro leads
Seed 2.0 Pro: 24.1 (#165), Gemma 3 12B: 15.7 (#313)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1453 | 1309 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 28.4% | — |
| CritPt | — | 0% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 0% |
| Thematic Generalization | 57.1% | — |
| DTBench | — | 48.8% |
| LMCA | — | 4.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 123.5 |
Math Seed 2.0 Pro leads
Seed 2.0 Pro: 39.3 (#108), Gemma 3 12B: 22.3 (#279)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1439 | 1307 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 16.7% |
Knowledge Seed 2.0 Pro leads
Seed 2.0 Pro: 40.2 (#122), Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#257)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1440 | 1248 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 39.5% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 4.4% |
Multimodal Not comparable
Seed 2.0 Pro: 41.5 (#35), Gemma 3 12B: —
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1274 | — |
| MindCube | — | 46.7% |
Multilingual Seed 2.0 Pro leads
Seed 2.0 Pro: 54.5 (#39), Gemma 3 12B: 45.7 (#165)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1441 | 1318 |
| LMArena German | 1442 | 1370 |
| LMArena Russian | 1449 | 1335 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1489 | — |
| LMArena French | 1471 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1408 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1411 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1460 | — |
Instruction Following Seed 2.0 Pro leads
Seed 2.0 Pro: 74.5 (#91), Gemma 3 12B: 68.6 (#186)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1414 | 1299 |
Long Context Seed 2.0 Pro leads
Seed 2.0 Pro: 43.6 (#90), Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#162)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1428 | 1317 |
Writing & Preference Seed 2.0 Pro leads
Seed 2.0 Pro: 62.9 (#69), Gemma 3 12B: 47.5 (#209)
| Benchmark | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1448 | 1334 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1406 | 1331 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1441 | 1334 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 1126 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Seed 2.0 Pro better than Gemma 3 12B?
Seed 2.0 Pro is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.2 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 15× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Seed 2.0 Pro's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Seed 2.0 Pro or Gemma 3 12B?
Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Seed 2.0 Pro lists at $0.50 and $3.
Is Seed 2.0 Pro or Gemma 3 12B better for coding?
Seed 2.0 Pro scores higher on coding benchmarks: 43.5 versus 31.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Seed 2.0 Pro does, with 256K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Seed 2.0 Pro and Gemma 3 12B share?
12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Seed 2.0 Pro has 20 scored results on Noometry and Gemma 3 12B has 24.