Model comparison
Gemma 4 12B vs GPT-4o
Head-to-head evidence from 11 shared benchmark results across 5 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Gemma 4 12B #137 (Estimated); GPT-4o #165 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Gemma 4 12B and GPT-4o share 11 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 12 results are unique to Gemma 4 12B; 2 to GPT-4o.
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 11
- Gemma 4 12B only
- 12
- GPT-4o only
- 2
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick Gemma 4 12B if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4o only becomes the better choice if you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 11 shared benchmark results across 5 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
Gemma 4 12B is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 47.29 to 41.49. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Gemma 4 12B's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 77.5 against 0.3.
Gemma 4 12B is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4o 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 128K for GPT-4o.
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 | GPT-4o |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Gemma 4 12B77.5 | Margin← 77.2 | GPT-4o0.3 |
| Reasoning | Gemma 4 12B43.4 | MarginNo overlap | GPT-4oNot measured |
| Knowledge | Gemma 4 12B77.5 | MarginNo overlap | GPT-4oNot measured |
| Multimodal | Gemma 4 12B69.1 | MarginNo overlap | GPT-4oNot measured |
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Gemma 4 12B | GPT-4o | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Gemma 4 12BNot available | GPT-4o$2.5 input / $10 output | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Gemma 4 12BNot available | GPT-4o131 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Gemma 4 12BNot available | GPT-4o0.81 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Gemma 4 12B256K | GPT-4o128K | Gemma 4 12B lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | GPT-4o | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-bench resultsSource | 36.3% | 25.1% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
Coding1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | GPT-4o | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-SciCodeSource | 38.2% | 33.3% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
Reasoning4 benchmarks
Knowledge11 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | GPT-4o | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 78.8% | — | Not comparable |
| 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% | 11.2% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 75.3% | 54.3% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
| AA-HLESource | 14.8% | 3.3% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | -51.9% | -10.7% | GPT-4o leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 16.0% | 19.7% | GPT-4o leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 80.8% | 37.9% | GPT-4o leads |
MathGemma 4 12B wins2 benchmarks
Multimodal5 benchmarks
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | GPT-4o | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | 73.5% | 34.3% | Gemma 4 12B leads |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Gemma 4 12B or GPT-4o?
Gemma 4 12B is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 47.29 to 41.49.
Which is better for math, Gemma 4 12B or GPT-4o?
Gemma 4 12B has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 77.5 versus 0.3. GPT-4o stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
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