Head-to-head comparison across 2benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
Sibling matchup inside the Gemma 4 family.
Gemma 4 12B
53
Gemma 4 26B A4B
55
Gemma 4 12B makes more sense if knowledge is the priority, while Gemma 4 26B A4B is the cleaner fit if multimodal & grounded is the priority.
Knowledge
+28.6 difference
Multimodal
+4.7 difference
Gemma 4 12B
Gemma 4 26B A4B
N/A
$0 / $0
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
256K
256K
Gemma 4 12B makes more sense if knowledge is the priority, while Gemma 4 26B A4B is the cleaner fit if multimodal & grounded is the priority.
Gemma 4 12B and Gemma 4 26B A4B sit in the same Gemma 4 family. This page is less about two unrelated model lineages and more about how the siblings trade off on benchmark shape, token costs, and practical limits like context window.
Gemma 4 26B A4B has the cleaner provisional overall profile here, landing at 55 versus 53. It is a real lead, but still close enough that category-level strengths matter more than the headline number.
Gemma 4 26B A4B's sharpest advantage is in multimodal & grounded, where it averages 73.8 against 69.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MMLU-Pro, 77.2% to 82.6%. Gemma 4 12B does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
Gemma 4 12B and Gemma 4 26B A4B are sibling variants in the Gemma 4 family, so the right pick depends on whether you value the better benchmark line, cheaper tokens, or the larger context window. Gemma 4 26B A4B is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard 55 to 53.
Gemma 4 12B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.8 versus 49.2. Inside this category, MMLU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Gemma 4 26B A4B has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 73.8 versus 69.1. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
For engineers, researchers, and the plain curious — a weekly brief on new models, ranking shifts, and pricing changes.
Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.