# Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen3 Max

> Qwen3 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.5 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 32× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-3-12b-vs-qwen3-max
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 18

## Summary

- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 12B scores higher in 0 categories and Qwen3 Max in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3 Max leads 48.1 to 26.5.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 16.7% for Gemma 3 12B and 73.3% for Qwen3 Max.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $1.20 / $6 for Qwen3 Max.
- Qwen3 Max accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 131K.
- Gemma 3 12B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 31.8 | 43.5 |
| Rank | 255 | 82 |
| Context | 131K | 262K |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $1.20 |
| Output $/M | $0.15 | $6 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemma 3 12B: 31.2 (#276)
- Qwen3 Max: 42.4 (#93)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | 1456 |
| SciCode | 17.4% | — |
| ALE-Bench | — | 370.45 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 3 12B: 25.3 (#101)
- Qwen3 Max: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 30.4% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 71.56 |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 3 12B: 15.2 (#307)
- Qwen3 Max: 22.0 (#186)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | 4% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | 1448 |
| DTBench | 48.8% | 82.1% |
| LMCA | 4.5% | 28.3% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.49 | 142.41 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 72.5% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 30.1% |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 5% |

## Math

- Gemma 3 12B: 21.0 (#273)
- Qwen3 Max: 37.6 (#94)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | 73.3% |
| LMArena Math | 1307 | 1447 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | — | 18.9% |
| MATH Level 5 | — | 97.1% |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#250)
- Qwen3 Max: 48.1 (#72)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 39.5% | 72.6% |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | 1457 |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 48.7% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 4.4% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 3 12B: —
- Qwen3 Max: —

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

## Multilingual

- Gemma 3 12B: 45.9 (#160)
- Qwen3 Max: 53.9 (#58)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1429 |
| LMArena German | 1370 | 1463 |
| LMArena Russian | 1335 | 1428 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1479 |
| LMArena French | — | 1450 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1399 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1397 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1463 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 3 12B: 68.8 (#179)
- Qwen3 Max: 75.0 (#81)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | 1420 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#157)
- Qwen3 Max: 41.6 (#129)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | 1439 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 66.7% |
| CL-bench | — | 14.5% |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 3 12B: 47.7 (#205)
- Qwen3 Max: 62.6 (#72)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | 1439 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1401 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | 1446 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 3 12B better than Qwen3 Max?

Qwen3 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.5 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 32× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

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

Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Max lists at $1.20 and $6.

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

Qwen3 Max scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 31.2 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Max does, with 262K tokens against 131K.

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

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3 Max has 33.