# Gemma 3 12B vs Grok 4.1 Fast

> Grok 4.1 Fast is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.9 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 3.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.1 Fast's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-3-12b-vs-grok-4-1-fast
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 16

## Summary

- They share 16 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 0 categories and Grok 4.1 Fast in 9 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Grok 4.1 Fast leads 42.3 to 15.2.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard: 30.4% for Gemma 3 12B and 69.6% for Grok 4.1 Fast.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.20 / $0.50 for Grok 4.1 Fast.
- Gemma 3 12B accepts more context: 131K tokens versus 128K.
- Gemma 3 12B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | xAI |
| Noometry Index | 31.8 | 40.9 |
| Rank | 255 | 131 |
| Context | 131K | 128K |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $0.20 |
| Output $/M | $0.15 | $0.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemma 3 12B: 31.2 (#276)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 33.8 (#236)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1411 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1241 |
| SciCode | 17.4% | — |
| ALE-Bench | — | 394.93 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 3 12B: 25.3 (#101)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 36.1 (#35)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | 69.6% |
| τ²-bench Banking | — | 13.1% |
| LMArena Search | — | 1171 |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 1,107 |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 3 12B: 15.2 (#307)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 42.3 (#45)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1407 |
| DTBench | 48.8% | 87.7% |
| SimpleBench | — | 56% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 87.4% |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| LMCA | 4.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.49 | — |
| ForecastBench | — | 61 |

## Math

- Gemma 3 12B: 21.0 (#273)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 30.9 (#201)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 60.9% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | — |
| ProofBench | — | 4% |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#250)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 32.6 (#203)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | 17.8% |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1398 |
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 3 12B: —
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 36.3 (#71)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1201 |
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 3 12B: 45.9 (#160)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 51.1 (#110)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1391 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | 1404 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1387 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1441 |
| LMArena French | — | 1416 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1347 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1361 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1411 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 3 12B: 68.8 (#179)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 72.8 (#127)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1376 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#157)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 42.4 (#121)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1390 |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 3 12B: 47.7 (#205)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 57.4 (#126)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1408 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1394 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | 1327 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1389 |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 3 12B better than Grok 4.1 Fast?

Grok 4.1 Fast is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.9 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 3.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.1 Fast's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Grok 4.1 Fast?

Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Grok 4.1 Fast lists at $0.20 and $0.50.

### Is Gemma 3 12B or Grok 4.1 Fast better for coding?

Grok 4.1 Fast scores higher on coding benchmarks: 33.8 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 Gemma 3 12B and Grok 4.1 Fast share?

16 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Grok 4.1 Fast has 32.