Model comparison
Gemma 3 12B vs Muse Spark 1.1
Muse Spark 1.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 49.9 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 27× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Muse Spark 1.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
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 0 categories and Muse Spark 1.1 in 9 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Muse Spark 1.1 leads 45.9 to 15.2.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is DTBench: 48.8% for Gemma 3 12B and 94.4% for Muse Spark 1.1.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $1.25 / $4.25 for Muse Spark 1.1.
- Muse Spark 1.1 accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 131K.
- Gemma 3 12B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | |
| Noometry Index | 31.8 | 49.9 |
| Released | 2025-03-12 | 2026-04-08 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 131K | 1.05M |
| Max output | 8K | 131K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.05 | $1.25 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.15 | $4.25 |
| Results tracked | 24 | 36 |
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Category by category
Coding Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 31.2 (#276), Muse Spark 1.1: 50.8 (#38)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 17.4% | 58.8% |
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1497 |
| DeepSWE | — | 53.3% |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1542 |
Agentic & Tool Use Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 25.3 (#101), Muse Spark 1.1: 33.9 (#45)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |
| τ²-bench Banking | — | 40.5% |
| GBAEval | — | 7.9% |
| GDP.pdf | — | 15% |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 6,520 |
Reasoning Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 15.2 (#307), Muse Spark 1.1: 45.9 (#41)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 15.1% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1486 |
| DTBench | 48.8% | 94.4% |
| LMCA | 4.5% | 49.9% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.49 | 154.32 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 84.9% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| Surface Evolver Bench | — | 52.5% |
Math Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 21.0 (#273), Muse Spark 1.1: 44.0 (#67)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1477 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | — |
| ProofBench | — | 39% |
Knowledge Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#250), Muse Spark 1.1: 52.8 (#55)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1480 |
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 57.8% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: —, Muse Spark 1.1: 41.9 (#28)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1292 |
| LMArena Document | — | 1465 |
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |
Multilingual Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 45.9 (#160), Muse Spark 1.1: 56.8 (#16)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1471 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | 1466 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1482 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1518 |
| LMArena French | — | 1494 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1445 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1459 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1471 |
Instruction Following Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 68.8 (#179), Muse Spark 1.1: 76.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1457 |
Long Context Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#157), Muse Spark 1.1: 44.8 (#55)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1463 |
Writing & Preference Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Gemma 3 12B: 47.7 (#205), Muse Spark 1.1: 73.6 (#11)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1479 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1440 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | 1927 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1484 |
| EQ-Bench 4 | — | 1260 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 3 12B better than Muse Spark 1.1?
Muse Spark 1.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 49.9 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 27× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Muse Spark 1.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Muse Spark 1.1?
Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Muse Spark 1.1 lists at $1.25 and $4.25.
Is Gemma 3 12B or Muse Spark 1.1 better for coding?
Muse Spark 1.1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.8 versus 31.2 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Muse Spark 1.1 does, with 1.05M tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and Muse Spark 1.1 share?
18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Muse Spark 1.1 has 36.