# DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale vs Gemma 3 12B

> DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.1 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 11× less per token, which makes it the better buy when DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/deepseek-v3-2-speciale-vs-gemma-3-12b
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 1

## Summary

- They share 1 benchmark with published results for both. DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale scores higher in 2 categories and Gemma 3 12B in 1 category; 3 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale leads 32.1 to 15.2.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.58 / $1.68 for DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale.
- Gemma 3 12B accepts more context: 131K tokens versus 128K.

## Snapshot

| | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | Google |
| Noometry Index | 39.1 | 31.8 |
| Rank | 159 | 255 |
| Context | 128K | 131K |
| Input $/M | $0.58 | $0.05 |
| Output $/M | $1.68 | $0.15 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: 39.9 (#136)
- Gemma 3 12B: 31.2 (#276)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | — | 17.4% |
| WeirdML | 46.7% | — |
| LMArena Coding | — | 1281 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: —
- Gemma 3 12B: 25.3 (#101)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 30.4% |

## Reasoning

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: 32.1 (#65)
- Gemma 3 12B: 15.2 (#307)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| SimpleBench | 52.6% | — |
| CritPt | — | 0% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 0% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | — | 1309 |
| DTBench | — | 48.8% |
| LMCA | — | 4.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 123.49 |

## Math

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: —
- Gemma 3 12B: 21.0 (#273)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 16.7% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1307 |

## Knowledge

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: —
- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#250)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | — | 39.5% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 4.4% |
| LMArena Expert | — | 1248 |

## Multimodal

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: —
- Gemma 3 12B: —

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | — | 46.7% |

## Multilingual

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: —
- Gemma 3 12B: 45.9 (#160)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | — | 1318 |
| LMArena German | — | 1370 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1335 |

## Instruction Following

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: —
- Gemma 3 12B: 68.8 (#179)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | — | 1299 |

## Long Context

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: —
- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#157)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1317 |

## Writing & Preference

- DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: 46.1 (#217)
- Gemma 3 12B: 47.7 (#205)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1276 | 1126 |
| LMArena Text | — | 1334 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1331 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1334 |

## FAQ

### Is DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale better than Gemma 3 12B?

DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.1 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 11× less per token, which makes it the better buy when DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale or Gemma 3 12B?

Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale lists at $0.58 and $1.68.

### Is DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale or Gemma 3 12B better for coding?

DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale scores higher on coding benchmarks: 39.9 versus 31.2 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Gemma 3 12B does, with 131K tokens against 128K.

### How many benchmarks do DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale and Gemma 3 12B share?

1 benchmark has published results for both models. DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale has 3 scored results on Noometry and Gemma 3 12B has 24.