# DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Gemma 3 12B

> DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 50.3 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 3.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when DeepSeek V4.1 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-vs-gemma-3-12b
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## Summary

- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher in 8 categories and Gemma 3 12B in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads 46.2 to 15.2.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is LMCA: 47% for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and 4.5% for Gemma 3 12B.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.15 / $0.60 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.

## Snapshot

| | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | Google |
| Noometry Index | 50.3 | 31.8 |
| Rank | 40 | 255 |
| Context | 1M | 131K |
| Input $/M | $0.15 | $0.05 |
| Output $/M | $0.60 | $0.15 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 52.8 (#29)
- Gemma 3 12B: 31.2 (#276)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 51.9% | 17.4% |
| LMArena Coding | 1511 | 1281 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1620 | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,092 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: —
- Gemma 3 12B: 25.3 (#101)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 30.4% |

## Reasoning

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 46.2 (#39)
- Gemma 3 12B: 15.2 (#307)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 14.3% | 0% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1485 | 1309 |
| DTBench | 89.9% | 48.8% |
| LMCA | 47% | 4.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 155.01 | 123.49 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 89.6% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 0% |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 46.3% | — |

## Math

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 48.4 (#52)
- Gemma 3 12B: 21.0 (#273)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1493 | 1307 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 16.7% |
| ProofBench | 54% | — |

## Knowledge

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 41.6 (#97)
- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#250)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1505 | 1248 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 39.5% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 4.4% |

## Multimodal

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: —
- Gemma 3 12B: —

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | — | 46.7% |

## Multilingual

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 55.5 (#29)
- Gemma 3 12B: 45.9 (#160)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1452 | 1318 |
| LMArena Russian | 1473 | 1335 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1506 | — |
| LMArena French | 1448 | — |
| LMArena German | — | 1370 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1499 | — |

## Instruction Following

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 77.6 (#24)
- Gemma 3 12B: 68.8 (#179)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1475 | 1299 |

## Long Context

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 45.2 (#46)
- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#157)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1476 | 1317 |

## Writing & Preference

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 65.8 (#43)
- Gemma 3 12B: 47.7 (#205)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1465 | 1334 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1436 | 1331 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1540 | 1126 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1460 | 1334 |

## FAQ

### Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash better than Gemma 3 12B?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 50.3 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 3.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when DeepSeek V4.1 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 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 V4.1 Flash lists at $0.15 and $0.60.

### Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Gemma 3 12B better for coding?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 52.8 versus 31.2 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Gemma 3 12B share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has 25 scored results on Noometry and Gemma 3 12B has 24.