Model comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemma 4 12B
Head-to-head evidence from 14 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 4.6 #32 (Supported); Gemma 4 12B #137 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemma 4 12B share 14 comparable benchmark results. 3 of 8 categories are comparable. 19 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 4.6; 9 to Gemma 4 12B.
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 14
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 only
- 19
- Gemma 4 12B only
- 9
- Comparable categories
- 3 / 8
Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Gemma 4 12B only becomes the better choice if mathematics is the priority or you need the larger 256K context window.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 14 shared benchmark results across 6 evidence categories; 3 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 65.07 to 47.29. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Claude Sonnet 4.6's sharpest advantage is in multimodal & grounded, where it averages 77.4 against 69.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is GPQA, 89.9% to 78.8%. Gemma 4 12B does hit back in mathematics, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
Gemma 4 12B is the reasoning model in the pair, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Gemma 4 12B gives you the larger context window at 256K, compared with 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
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 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Δ | Gemma 4 12B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Claude Sonnet 4.626.4 | Margin→ 51.1 | Gemma 4 12B77.5 |
| Knowledge | Claude Sonnet 4.666.0 | Margin→ 11.5 | Gemma 4 12B77.5 |
| Multimodal | Claude Sonnet 4.677.4 | Margin← 8.3 | Gemma 4 12B69.1 |
| Agentic | Claude Sonnet 4.665.2 | MarginNo overlap | Gemma 4 12BNot measured |
| Coding | Claude Sonnet 4.669.1 | MarginNo overlap | Gemma 4 12BNot measured |
| Reasoning | Claude Sonnet 4.6Not measured | MarginNo overlap | Gemma 4 12B43.4 |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 89.9%B 78.8%Winner: Claude Sonnet 4.6Δ 11.1GPQA: Claude Sonnet 4.6 scored 89.9%; Gemma 4 12B scored 78.8%. Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
MMLU-Pro
KnowledgeA 79.2%B 77.2%Winner: Claude Sonnet 4.6Δ 2MMLU-Pro: Claude Sonnet 4.6 scored 79.2%; Gemma 4 12B scored 77.2%. Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemma 4 12B | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude Sonnet 4.6$3 input / $15 output | Gemma 4 12BNot available | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude Sonnet 4.644 tok/s | Gemma 4 12BNot available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude Sonnet 4.61.48 s | Gemma 4 12BNot available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude Sonnet 4.6200K | Gemma 4 12B256K | Gemma 4 12B lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic8 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemma 4 12B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 59.1% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld-VerifiedSource | 72.1% | — | Not comparable |
| Claw-EvalSource | 67.8% | — | Not comparable |
| CyberGymSource | 65.2% | — | Not comparable |
| τ²-bench resultsSource | 79.5% | 36.3% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| Gert LabsSource | 62.92% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld 2.0Source | 8.3% | — | Not comparable |
| JobBenchSource | 36.9% | — | Not comparable |
Coding7 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemma 4 12B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 79.6% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE-RebenchSource | 60.7% | — | Not comparable |
| React Native EvalsSource | 80.6% | — | Not comparable |
| Vibe Code BenchSource | 51.48% | — | Not comparable |
| cursorBench31Source | 48.8% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-SciCodeSource | 46.9% | 38.2% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource | 24.3% | — | Not comparable |
Reasoning4 benchmarks
KnowledgeGemma 4 12B wins13 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemma 4 12B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 89.9% | 78.8% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| SuperGPQASource | 95% | — | Not comparable |
| MMLU-ProSource | 79.2% | 77.2% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| HLESource | 49% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 35.9% | 22.0% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 79.9% | 75.3% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-HLESource | 13.2% | 14.8% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | -2.9% | -51.9% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 38.0% | 16.0% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 65.9% | 80.8% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| GPQA-DSource | — | 78.8% | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | — | 5.2% | Not comparable |
| MMMLUSource | — | 83.4% | Not comparable |
MathGemma 4 12B wins3 benchmarks
MultimodalClaude Sonnet 4.6 wins6 benchmarks
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemma 4 12B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | 41.2% | 73.5% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
Frequently Asked Questions (4)
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemma 4 12B?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 65.07 to 47.29. The biggest single separator in this matchup is GPQA, where the scores are 89.9% and 78.8%.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemma 4 12B?
Gemma 4 12B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.5 versus 66. Inside this category, AA-Omniscience Index is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for math, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemma 4 12B?
Gemma 4 12B has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 77.5 versus 26.4. Claude Sonnet 4.6 stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemma 4 12B?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.4 versus 69.1. Inside this category, AA-MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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