# Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen3.5 Max Preview

> Qwen3.5 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.3 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-3-12b-vs-qwen3-5-max-preview
- 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 Qwen3.5 Max Preview in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads 66.0 to 47.5.
- Gemma 3 12B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 32.1 | 45.3 |
| Rank | 262 | 71 |
| Context | 131K | — |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | — |
| Output $/M | $0.15 | — |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemma 3 12B: 31.7 (#280)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 44.0 (#77)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1487 |
| SciCode | 17.4% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 3 12B: 25.5 (#108)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 3 12B: 15.7 (#313)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 30.8 (#84)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1483 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| DTBench | 48.8% | — |
| LMCA | 4.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.5 | — |

## Math

- Gemma 3 12B: 22.3 (#279)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 40.1 (#94)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1474 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#257)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 41.8 (#107)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1489 |
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 3 12B: —
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 3 12B: 45.7 (#165)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 56.2 (#22)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1465 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | 1487 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1471 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1534 |
| LMArena French | — | 1484 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1495 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1438 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1470 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 3 12B: 68.6 (#186)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 77.0 (#31)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1467 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#162)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 45.2 (#45)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1476 |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 3 12B: 47.5 (#209)
- Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 66.0 (#41)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1470 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1464 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1478 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 3 12B better than Qwen3.5 Max Preview?

Qwen3.5 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.3 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Gemma 3 12B or Qwen3.5 Max Preview better for coding?

Qwen3.5 Max Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 44.0 versus 31.7 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and Qwen3.5 Max Preview share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5 Max Preview has 17.