Model comparison
Gemma 3 12B vs Gemma 4 26B A4B IT
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 1.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemma 4 26B A4B IT's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 21 shared benchmarks.
GoogleSummary
- They share 21 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 0 categories and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads 45.7 to 21.0.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 16.7% for Gemma 3 12B and 82.2% for Gemma 4 26B A4B IT.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.0765 / $0.26 for Gemma 4 26B A4B IT.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 131K.
Side by side
| Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ||
| Noometry Index | 31.8 | 43.1 |
| Released | 2025-03-12 | 2026-04-02 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 131K | 262K |
| Max output | 8K | 33K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.05 | $0.0765 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.15 | $0.26 |
| Results tracked | 24 | 28 |
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Category by category
Coding Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 3 12B: 31.2 (#276), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 38.8 (#156)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 17.4% | 40% |
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1446 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1359 |
| WeirdML | — | 35.2% |
| ALE-Bench | — | 927.17 |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: 25.3 (#101), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |
Reasoning Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 3 12B: 15.2 (#307), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 21.1 (#205)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 0% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | 6% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1438 |
| DTBench | 48.8% | 74.9% |
| LMCA | 4.5% | 29.7% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.49 | 141.85 |
Math Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 3 12B: 21.0 (#273), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.7 (#61)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | 82.2% |
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1469 |
Knowledge Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#250), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.6 (#79)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | 73.2% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1447 |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: —, Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 39.9 (#43)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1260 |
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |
Multilingual Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 3 12B: 45.9 (#160), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 53.3 (#68)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1422 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1434 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1495 |
| LMArena French | — | 1459 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1415 |
Instruction Following Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 3 12B: 68.8 (#179), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 75.0 (#78)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1420 |
Long Context Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#157), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 43.6 (#87)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1427 |
Writing & Preference Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemma 3 12B: 47.7 (#205), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 58.8 (#110)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1434 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1401 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | 1305 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1442 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 3 12B better than Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 1.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemma 4 26B A4B IT's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Gemma 4 26B A4B IT lists at $0.0765 and $0.26.
Is Gemma 3 12B or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT better for coding?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT scores higher on coding benchmarks: 38.8 versus 31.2 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT does, with 262K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT share?
21 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has 28.