# Gemma 3 12B vs MiniMax M1

> MiniMax M1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 11× less per token, which makes it the better buy when MiniMax M1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-3-12b-vs-minimax-m1
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 0 categories and MiniMax M1 in 8 categories; 6 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where MiniMax M1 leads 34.8 to 21.0.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.40 / $2.20 for MiniMax M1.
- MiniMax M1 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | MiniMax |
| Noometry Index | 31.8 | 39.7 |
| Rank | 255 | 146 |
| Context | 131K | 1M |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $0.40 |
| Output $/M | $0.15 | $2.20 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Gemma 3 12B: 31.2 (#276)
- MiniMax M1: 39.2 (#149)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1359 |
| SciCode | 17.4% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 3 12B: 25.3 (#101)
- MiniMax M1: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 3 12B: 15.2 (#307)
- MiniMax M1: 25.8 (#125)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1340 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| DTBench | 48.8% | — |
| LMCA | 4.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.49 | — |

## Math

- Gemma 3 12B: 21.0 (#273)
- MiniMax M1: 34.8 (#152)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1360 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#250)
- MiniMax M1: 35.7 (#168)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1316 |
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 3 12B: —
- MiniMax M1: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 3 12B: 45.9 (#160)
- MiniMax M1: 46.0 (#157)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1320 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | 1350 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1330 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1361 |
| LMArena French | — | 1369 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1220 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1263 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1354 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 3 12B: 68.8 (#179)
- MiniMax M1: 69.5 (#169)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1312 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#157)
- MiniMax M1: 41.4 (#136)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1326 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 69.4% |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 3 12B: 47.7 (#205)
- MiniMax M1: 53.3 (#155)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1343 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1298 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1335 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 3 12B better than MiniMax M1?

MiniMax M1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 11× less per token, which makes it the better buy when MiniMax M1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or MiniMax M1?

Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; MiniMax M1 lists at $0.40 and $2.20.

### Is Gemma 3 12B or MiniMax M1 better for coding?

MiniMax M1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 39.2 versus 31.2 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

MiniMax M1 does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and MiniMax M1 share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and MiniMax M1 has 18.