Model comparison
Gemma 3 12B vs Nova 2.0 Pro Preview
Nova 2.0 Pro Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 33.4 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 2 shared benchmarks.
GoogleSummary
- They share 2 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 1 category and Nova 2.0 Pro Preview in 2 categories; 3 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in coding, where Nova 2.0 Pro Preview leads 40.8 to 31.7.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is SciCode: 17.4% for Gemma 3 12B and 42.7% for Nova 2.0 Pro Preview.
- Gemma 3 12B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon | |
| Noometry Index | 32.1 | 33.4 |
| Released | 2025-03-12 | 2025-12-02 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 131K | — |
| Max output | 8K | — |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.05 | — |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.15 | — |
| Results tracked | 24 | 3 |
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Category by category
Coding Nova 2.0 Pro Preview leads
Gemma 3 12B: 31.7 (#280), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 40.8 (#133)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 17.4% | 42.7% |
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Gemma 3 12B leads
Gemma 3 12B: 25.5 (#108), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 21.9 (#136)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |
| GDP.pdf | — | 2% |
Reasoning Nova 2.0 Pro Preview leads
Gemma 3 12B: 15.7 (#313), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 22.4 (#194)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 0% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | — |
| DTBench | 48.8% | — |
| LMCA | 4.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.5 | — |
Math Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: 22.3 (#279), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1307 | — |
Knowledge Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#257), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: —, Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: 45.7 (#165), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | — |
| LMArena German | 1370 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: 68.6 (#186), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#162), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | — |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Gemma 3 12B: 47.5 (#209), Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 3 12B better than Nova 2.0 Pro Preview?
Nova 2.0 Pro Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 33.4 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index.
Is Gemma 3 12B or Nova 2.0 Pro Preview better for coding?
Nova 2.0 Pro Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.8 versus 31.7 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and Nova 2.0 Pro Preview share?
2 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2.0 Pro Preview has 3.