Model comparison
Gemma 3 12B vs Nemotron 3 Ultra
Nemotron 3 Ultra is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.5 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 14× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nemotron 3 Ultra's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 21 shared benchmarks.
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NVIDIASummary
- They share 21 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 1 category and Nemotron 3 Ultra in 8 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Nemotron 3 Ultra leads 52.5 to 26.5.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 16.7% for Gemma 3 12B and 86.7% for Nemotron 3 Ultra.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.60 / $2.40 for Nemotron 3 Ultra.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 131K.
Side by side
| Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | NVIDIA | |
| Noometry Index | 32.1 | 42.5 |
| Released | 2025-03-12 | 2026-06-04 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 131K | 262K |
| Max output | 8K | 128K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.05 | $0.60 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.15 | $2.40 |
| Results tracked | 24 | 30 |
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Category by category
Coding Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Gemma 3 12B: 31.7 (#280), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 38.1 (#182)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 17.4% | 40.3% |
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1468 |
| FrontierCode | — | 13.6% |
| WeirdML | — | 43.5% |
Agentic & Tool Use Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 25.5 (#108), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 23.4 (#126)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | — | 22.7% |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |
Reasoning Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Gemma 3 12B: 15.7 (#313), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 31.0 (#82)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 3.1% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | 12% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1452 |
| DTBench | 48.8% | 90.1% |
| LMCA | 4.5% | 36.9% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.5 | 146.17 |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 20% |
Math Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Gemma 3 12B: 22.3 (#279), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 35.3 (#187)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | 86.7% |
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1457 |
| ProofBench | — | 2% |
Knowledge Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#257), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 52.5 (#61)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | 85.4% |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1472 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: —, Nemotron 3 Ultra: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |
Multilingual Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Gemma 3 12B: 45.7 (#165), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 53.5 (#64)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1427 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | 1471 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1417 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1497 |
| LMArena French | — | 1472 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1386 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1454 |
Instruction Following Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Gemma 3 12B: 68.6 (#186), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 74.7 (#88)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1418 |
Long Context Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#162), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 43.9 (#81)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1437 |
Writing & Preference Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Gemma 3 12B: 47.5 (#209), Nemotron 3 Ultra: 66.3 (#36)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1445 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1398 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | 1692 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1411 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 3 12B better than Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Nemotron 3 Ultra is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.5 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 14× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nemotron 3 Ultra's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Nemotron 3 Ultra lists at $0.60 and $2.40.
Is Gemma 3 12B or Nemotron 3 Ultra better for coding?
Nemotron 3 Ultra scores higher on coding benchmarks: 38.1 versus 31.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nemotron 3 Ultra does, with 262K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and Nemotron 3 Ultra share?
21 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Nemotron 3 Ultra has 30.