# Gemma 3 12B vs GLM-5.3

> GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.6 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 29× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-3-12b-vs-glm-5-3
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 21

## Summary

- They share 21 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 0 categories and GLM-5.3 in 9 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where GLM-5.3 leads 62.1 to 21.0.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 16.7% for Gemma 3 12B and 91.1% for GLM-5.3.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $1.40 / $4.40 for GLM-5.3.
- GLM-5.3 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Z.ai (Zhipu) |
| Noometry Index | 31.8 | 54.6 |
| Rank | 255 | 25 |
| Context | 131K | 1M |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $1.40 |
| Output $/M | $0.15 | $4.40 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Gemma 3 12B: 31.2 (#276)
- GLM-5.3: 59.0 (#12)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 17.4% | 59% |
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1499 |
| DeepSWE | — | 69% |
| FrontierCode | — | 40.1% |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1623 |
| FrontierSWE | — | 30.2% |
| WeirdML | — | 75.4% |
| ALE-Bench | — | 1,317 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 3 12B: 25.3 (#101)
- GLM-5.3: 36.3 (#34)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | — | 56.6% |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 8,164 |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 3 12B: 15.2 (#307)
- GLM-5.3: 45.2 (#42)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 19.1% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | 21% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1491 |
| DTBench | 48.8% | 87.7% |
| LMCA | 4.5% | 55.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.49 | 155.56 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 74.2% |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 33% |
| Bench to the Future 3 | — | 0.15 |

## Math

- Gemma 3 12B: 21.0 (#273)
- GLM-5.3: 62.1 (#27)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | 91.1% |
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1493 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | — | 68.8% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | — | 29.3% |
| ProofBench | — | 49% |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#250)
- GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#34)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | 90.9% |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1512 |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 41% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 3 12B: —
- GLM-5.3: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 3 12B: 45.9 (#160)
- GLM-5.3: 55.9 (#27)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1457 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | 1505 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1460 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1523 |
| LMArena French | — | 1499 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1438 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1478 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1444 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 3 12B: 68.8 (#179)
- GLM-5.3: 77.8 (#15)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1481 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#157)
- GLM-5.3: 45.5 (#32)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1485 |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 3 12B: 47.7 (#205)
- GLM-5.3: 75.9 (#6)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1473 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1459 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | 2075 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1473 |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 3 12B better than GLM-5.3?

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.6 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 29× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or GLM-5.3?

Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.

### Is Gemma 3 12B or GLM-5.3 better for coding?

GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.0 versus 31.2 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

GLM-5.3 does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and GLM-5.3 share?

21 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and GLM-5.3 has 41.