Head-to-head comparison across 3benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
Sibling matchup inside the Gemma 4 family.
Gemma 4 12B
53
Gemma 4 31B
64
Gemma 4 12B makes more sense if coding is the priority, while Gemma 4 31B is the cleaner fit if multimodal & grounded is the priority.
Coding
+30.4 difference
Knowledge
+16.5 difference
Multimodal
+7.8 difference
Gemma 4 12B
Gemma 4 31B
N/A
$0 / $0
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
256K
256K
Gemma 4 12B makes more sense if coding is the priority, while Gemma 4 31B is the cleaner fit if multimodal & grounded is the priority.
Gemma 4 12B and Gemma 4 31B 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 31B is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 64 to 53. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Gemma 4 31B's sharpest advantage is in multimodal & grounded, where it averages 76.9 against 69.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MMLU-Pro, 77.2% to 85.2%. Gemma 4 12B does hit back in coding, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
Gemma 4 12B and Gemma 4 31B 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 31B is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard 64 to 53.
Gemma 4 12B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.8 versus 61.3. 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 41.6. Gemma 4 31B stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
Gemma 4 31B has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 76.9 versus 69.1. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.
For engineers, researchers, and the plain curious — a weekly brief on new models, ranking shifts, and pricing changes.
Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.