Model comparison

Gemma 4 12B vs Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

Data verified July 23, 2026

Head-to-head evidence from 15 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

Gemma 4 12B

Google

47.29/100

Margin

9.7pts

winning →

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

Alibaba

56.97/100

0 category wins2 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Gemma 4 12B #137 (Estimated); Qwen3.5-35B-A3B #72 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Gemma 4 12B and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B share 15 comparable benchmark results. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 8 results are unique to Gemma 4 12B; 13 to Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.

Updated July 23, 2026

Shared results: 15
Gemma 4 12B only: 8
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B only: 13
Comparable categories: 2 / 8

Pick Qwen3.5-35B-A3B if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Gemma 4 12B only becomes the better choice if its workflow or ecosystem matters more than the raw scoreboard.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 15 shared benchmark results across 6 evidence categories; 2 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 56.97 to 47.29. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B's sharpest advantage is in reasoning, where it averages 59 against 43.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MMLU-Pro, 77.2% to 85.3%.

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B gives you the larger context window at 262K, compared with 256K for Gemma 4 12B.

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 scores and score margins for Gemma 4 12B and Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Category	Gemma 4 12B	Δ	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
Reasoning	Gemma 4 12B43.4	Margin→ 15.6	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B59.0
Knowledge	Gemma 4 12B77.5	Margin→ 4.1	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B81.6
Agentic	Gemma 4 12BNot measured	MarginNo overlap	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B51.0
Coding	Gemma 4 12BNot measured	MarginNo overlap	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B60.6
Math	Gemma 4 12B77.5	MarginNo overlap	Qwen3.5-35B-A3BNot measured
Multilingual	Gemma 4 12BNot measured	MarginNo overlap	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B81.0
Multimodal	Gemma 4 12B69.1	MarginNo overlap	Qwen3.5-35B-A3BNot measured
Inst. Following	Gemma 4 12BNot measured	MarginNo overlap	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B91.9

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

A · Gemma 4 12BB · Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

MMLU-Pro
Knowledge
Source ↗
A 77.2%B 85.3%
Winner: Qwen3.5-35B-A3BΔ 8.1
MMLU-Pro: Gemma 4 12B scored 77.2%; Qwen3.5-35B-A3B scored 85.3%. Qwen3.5-35B-A3B wins this benchmark.
GPQA
Knowledge
Source ↗
A 78.8%B 84.2%
Winner: Qwen3.5-35B-A3BΔ 5.4
GPQA: Gemma 4 12B scored 78.8%; Qwen3.5-35B-A3B scored 84.2%. Qwen3.5-35B-A3B wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

Metric	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens	Gemma 4 12BNot available	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B$0 input / $0 output	A complete price comparison is not available.
Generation speedtokens per second	Gemma 4 12BNot available	Qwen3.5-35B-A3BNot available	A complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first token	Gemma 4 12BNot available	Qwen3.5-35B-A3BNot available	A complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokens	Gemma 4 12B256K	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B262K	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic

5 benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Result
τ²-bench resultsSource	36.3%	89.2%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source	—	40.5%	Not comparable
BrowseCompSource	—	61%	Not comparable
OSWorld-VerifiedSource	—	54.5%	Not comparable
Gert LabsSource	—	28.96%	Not comparable

Coding

3 benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Result
AA-SciCodeSource	38.2%	37.7%	Gemma 4 12B leads
SWE-bench VerifiedSource	—	69.2%	Not comparable
SWE-RebenchSource	—	53.7%	Not comparable

ReasoningQwen3.5-35B-A3B wins

5 benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Result
BBHSource	53%	—	Not comparable
MRCRv2Source	43.4%	—	Not comparable
AA-LCRSource	55.3%	62.7%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
CritPtSource	0.0%	0.9%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
LongBench v2Source	—	59%	Not comparable

KnowledgeQwen3.5-35B-A3B wins

12 benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Result
GPQASource	78.8%	84.2%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
GPQA-DSource	78.8%	—	Not comparable
MMLU-ProSource	77.2%	85.3%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
HLE w/o toolsSource	5.2%	—	Not comparable
MMMLUSource	83.4%	—	Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource	22.0%	29.3%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource	75.3%	84.5%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
AA-HLESource	14.8%	19.7%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource	-51.9%	-46.4%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource	16.0%	20.5%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource	80.8%	84.0%	Gemma 4 12B leads
SuperGPQASource	—	63.4%	Not comparable

Math

1 benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Result
AIME26Source	77.5%	—	Not comparable

Multilingual

1 benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Result
MMLU-ProXSource	—	81%	Not comparable

Multimodal

7 benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Result
MMMU-ProSource	69.1%	—	Not comparable
MathVisionSource	79.7%	83.9%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
MedXpertQA (MM)Source	48.7%	—	Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource	69.7%	72.7%	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B leads
MMMUSource	—	81.4%	Not comparable
MMVUSource	—	72.3%	Not comparable
V*Source	—	92.7%	Not comparable

Inst. Following

2 benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B	Qwen3.5-35B-A3B	Result
AA-IFBenchSource	73.5%	72.5%	Gemma 4 12B leads
IFEvalSource	—	91.9%	Not comparable

Frequently Asked Questions (3)

Which is better, Gemma 4 12B or Qwen3.5-35B-A3B?

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 56.97 to 47.29. The biggest single separator in this matchup is MMLU-Pro, where the scores are 77.2% and 85.3%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Gemma 4 12B or Qwen3.5-35B-A3B?

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 81.6 versus 77.5. Inside this category, AA-GPQA Diamond is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, Gemma 4 12B or Qwen3.5-35B-A3B?

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 59 versus 43.4. Inside this category, AA-LCR is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Related Comparisons

Explore More

Google Compare Pricing Methodology Find Your Best LLM Overall Rankings

Last updated: July 23, 2026

Choose a model with this week’s evidence

Join 2,000+ readers for ranking moves, pricing changes, and the claims that still need proof.

One email each week. Unsubscribe anytime.