# Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen3 Coder Next

> Qwen3 Coder Next is the stronger model overall, scoring 34.3 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 3.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Coder Next's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-3-12b-vs-qwen3-coder-next
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 2

## Summary

- They share 2 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 0 categories and Qwen3 Coder Next in 2 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Qwen3 Coder Next leads 22.4 to 15.7.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is SciCode: 17.4% for Gemma 3 12B and 32.3% for Qwen3 Coder Next.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $0.12 / $0.80 for Qwen3 Coder Next.
- Qwen3 Coder Next accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 131K.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 32.1 | 34.3 |
| Rank | 262 | 232 |
| Context | 131K | 262K |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $0.12 |
| Output $/M | $0.15 | $0.80 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Gemma 3 12B: 31.7 (#280)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: 36.3 (#210)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 17.4% | 32.3% |
| WeirdML | — | 34.4% |
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 3 12B: 25.5 (#108)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 3 12B: 15.7 (#313)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: 22.4 (#196)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 0% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | — |
| DTBench | 48.8% | — |
| LMCA | 4.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.5 | — |

## Math

- Gemma 3 12B: 22.3 (#279)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1307 | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#257)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 3 12B: —
- Qwen3 Coder Next: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 3 12B: 45.7 (#165)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | — |
| LMArena German | 1370 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 3 12B: 68.6 (#186)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | — |

## Long Context

- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#162)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 3 12B: 47.5 (#209)
- Qwen3 Coder Next: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 3 12B better than Qwen3 Coder Next?

Qwen3 Coder Next is the stronger model overall, scoring 34.3 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 3.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Coder Next's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Qwen3 Coder Next?

Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Coder Next lists at $0.12 and $0.80.

### Is Gemma 3 12B or Qwen3 Coder Next better for coding?

Qwen3 Coder Next scores higher on coding benchmarks: 36.3 versus 31.7 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Coder Next does, with 262K tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 12B and Qwen3 Coder Next share?

2 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3 Coder Next has 3.