Model comparison
Gemma 4 12B vs o3-mini
Head-to-head evidence from 6 shared benchmark results across 3 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Gemma 4 12B #137 (Estimated); o3-mini #136 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Gemma 4 12B and o3-mini share 6 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 17 results are unique to Gemma 4 12B; 4 to o3-mini.
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 6
- Gemma 4 12B only
- 17
- o3-mini only
- 4
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick o3-mini if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Gemma 4 12B only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 256K context window.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 6 shared benchmark results across 3 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
o3-mini has the cleaner BenchAlign overall profile here, landing at 47.41 versus 47.29. It is a real lead, but still close enough that category-level strengths matter more than the headline number.
Gemma 4 12B gives you the larger context window at 256K, compared with 200K for o3-mini.
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | Gemma 4 12B | Δ | o3-mini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Gemma 4 12B77.5 | Margin← 0.3 | o3-mini77.2 |
| Coding | Gemma 4 12BNot measured | MarginNo overlap | o3-mini49.3 |
| Reasoning | Gemma 4 12B43.4 | MarginNo overlap | o3-miniNot measured |
| Math | Gemma 4 12B77.5 | MarginNo overlap | o3-miniNot measured |
| Multimodal | Gemma 4 12B69.1 | MarginNo overlap | o3-miniNot measured |
| Inst. Following | Gemma 4 12BNot measured | MarginNo overlap | o3-mini93.9 |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 78.8%B 77.2%Winner: Gemma 4 12BΔ 1.6GPQA: Gemma 4 12B scored 78.8%; o3-mini scored 77.2%. Gemma 4 12B wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Gemma 4 12B | o3-mini | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Gemma 4 12BNot available | o3-mini$1.1 input / $4.4 output | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Gemma 4 12BNot available | o3-mini160 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Gemma 4 12BNot available | o3-mini7.12 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Gemma 4 12B256K | o3-mini200K | Gemma 4 12B lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | o3-mini | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-bench resultsSource | 36.3% | 28.7% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
Coding2 benchmarks
Reasoning4 benchmarks
KnowledgeGemma 4 12B wins12 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | o3-mini | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 78.8% | 77.2% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
| GPQA-DSource | 78.8% | — | Not comparable |
| MMLU-ProSource | 77.2% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | 5.2% | — | Not comparable |
| MMMLUSource | 83.4% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 22.0% | 19.0% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 75.3% | 74.8% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
| AA-HLESource | 14.8% | 8.7% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | -51.9% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 16.0% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 80.8% | — | Not comparable |
| MMLUSource | — | 86.9% | Not comparable |
Math2 benchmarks
Multimodal4 benchmarks
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Gemma 4 12B or o3-mini?
o3-mini is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 47.41 to 47.29. The biggest single separator in this matchup is GPQA, where the scores are 78.8% and 77.2%.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Gemma 4 12B or o3-mini?
Gemma 4 12B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.5 versus 77.2. Inside this category, AA-HLE is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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