# Gemma 3 12B vs Sonar

> Sonar is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.5 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 13× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Sonar's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-3-12b-vs-sonar
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in math, where Sonar leads 33.7 to 22.3.
- Gemma 3 12B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.15 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $1 for Sonar.
- 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 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Perplexity |
| Noometry Index | 32.1 | 38.5 |
| Rank | 262 | 187 |
| Context | 131K | 128K |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $0.15 | $1 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemma 3 12B: 31.7 (#280)
- Sonar: 35.7 (#221)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 17.4% | — |
| LiveBench Coding | — | 35.1% |
| LMArena Coding | 1281 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 3 12B: 25.5 (#108)
- Sonar: —

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

## Reasoning

- Gemma 3 12B: 15.7 (#313)
- Sonar: 21.1 (#227)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| LiveBench Reasoning | — | 46.3% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1309 | — |
| DTBench | 48.8% | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | — | 37.9% |
| LMCA | 4.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 123.5 | — |
| LiveBench | — | 46.9% |

## Math

- Gemma 3 12B: 22.3 (#279)
- Sonar: 33.7 (#200)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.7% | — |
| LiveBench Math | — | 41.6% |
| LMArena Math | 1307 | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 3 12B: 26.5 (#257)
- Sonar: —

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

## Multimodal

- Gemma 3 12B: —
- Sonar: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| MindCube | 46.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 3 12B: 45.7 (#165)
- Sonar: —

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

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 3 12B: 68.6 (#186)
- Sonar: 71.4 (#150)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Instruction Following | — | 76.2% |
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1299 | — |

## Long Context

- Gemma 3 12B: 40.0 (#162)
- Sonar: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1317 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 3 12B: 47.5 (#209)
- Sonar: 52.6 (#167)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1334 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1126 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1334 | — |
| LiveBench Language | — | 44.1% |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 3 12B better than Sonar?

Sonar is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.5 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 12B costs 13× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Sonar's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B or Sonar?

Gemma 3 12B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; Sonar lists at $1 and $1.

### Is Gemma 3 12B or Sonar better for coding?

Sonar scores higher on coding benchmarks: 35.7 versus 31.7 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 Sonar share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 12B has 24 scored results on Noometry and Sonar has 7.