Head-to-head comparison across 2benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
Claude Sonnet 5
94
Gemma 4 12B
49
Pick Claude Sonnet 5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Gemma 4 12B only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority.
Coding
+8.8 difference
Knowledge
+20.4 difference
Claude Sonnet 5
Gemma 4 12B
$3 / $15
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
1M
256K
Pick Claude Sonnet 5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Gemma 4 12B only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority.
Claude Sonnet 5 is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 94 to 49. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Claude Sonnet 5 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 256K for Gemma 4 12B.
Claude Sonnet 5 is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 94 to 49.
Gemma 4 12B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.8 versus 57.4. Inside this category, HLE w/o tools is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Gemma 4 12B has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 72 versus 63.2. Claude Sonnet 5 stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
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