Model comparison
Gemma 3 12B vs Llama 3.1-70B
Gemma 3 12B is the stronger model overall, scoring 32.1 to 29.6 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 18 shared benchmarks.
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MetaSummary
- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 8 categories and Llama 3.1-70B in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Gemma 3 12B leads 47.5 to 35.4.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 16.7% for Gemma 3 12B and 3.6% for Llama 3.1-70B.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.40 / $0.40 for Llama 3.1-70B.
- Gemma 3 12B accepts more context: 131K tokens versus 128K.
Side by side
| Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | |
| Noometry Index | 32.1 | 29.6 |
| Released | 2025-03-12 | 2024-07-23 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 131K | 128K |
| Max output | 8K | 4K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.05 | $0.40 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.15 | $0.40 |
| Results tracked | 24 | 35 |
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Category by category
Coding Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 31.7 (#280), Llama 3.1-70B: 30.3 (#296)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1260 |
| SciCode | 17.4% | — |
| WeirdML | — | 9% |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 46.1% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 54.8% |
Agentic & Tool Use Too close to call
Gemma 3 12B: 25.5 (#108), Llama 3.1-70B: 25.1 (#112)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |
| TheAgentCompany | — | 6.9% |
| BALROG | — | 27.9% |
Reasoning Llama 3.1-70B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 15.7 (#313), Llama 3.1-70B: 21.6 (#220)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1241 |
| DTBench | 48.8% | 60% |
| LMCA | 4.5% | 14.8% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.5 | 125.92 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
Math Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 22.3 (#279), Llama 3.1-70B: 13.5 (#304)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | 3.6% |
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1252 |
| Omni-MATH | — | 21% |
| MATH Level 5 | — | 36.7% |
Knowledge Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#257), Llama 3.1-70B: 24.2 (#269)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | 44.2% |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1209 |
| MMLU-Pro | — | 65.3% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | — | 42.6% |
| MMLU | — | 80.1% |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: —, Llama 3.1-70B: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |
Multilingual Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 45.7 (#165), Llama 3.1-70B: 38.8 (#225)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1219 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | 1222 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1234 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1215 |
| LMArena French | — | 1261 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1132 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1140 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1253 |
Instruction Following Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 68.6 (#186), Llama 3.1-70B: 65.3 (#223)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1231 |
| IFEval | — | 82.1% |
Long Context Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#162), Llama 3.1-70B: 37.6 (#214)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1241 |
Writing & Preference Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 47.5 (#209), Llama 3.1-70B: 35.4 (#267)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1-70B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1261 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1232 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | 784 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1256 |
| WildBench | — | 75.8% |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 3 12B better than Llama 3.1-70B?
Gemma 3 12B is the stronger model overall, scoring 32.1 to 29.6 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Llama 3.1-70B?
Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Llama 3.1-70B lists at $0.40 and $0.40.
Is Gemma 3 12B or Llama 3.1-70B better for coding?
Gemma 3 12B scores higher on coding benchmarks: 31.7 versus 30.3 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 3 12B does, with 131K tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and Llama 3.1-70B share?
18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Llama 3.1-70B has 35.