Model comparison
Gemma 4 E2B vs Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct
Head-to-head evidence from 1 shared benchmark result across 1 category. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Gemma 4 E2B #162 (Estimated); Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct unranked (Not scored). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Gemma 4 E2B and Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct share 1 comparable benchmark result. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 13 results are unique to Gemma 4 E2B; 4 to Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct.
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 1
- Gemma 4 E2B only
- 13
- Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct only
- 4
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Treat this as a split decision. Gemma 4 E2B makes more sense if knowledge is the priority or you want the stronger reasoning-first profile; Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct is the better fit if you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 1 shared benchmark result across 1 evidence category; 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 E2B and Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct finish on the same BenchAlign overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The BenchAlign headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.
Gemma 4 E2B is the reasoning model in the pair, while Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct 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.
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 E2B | Δ | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Gemma 4 E2B56.9 | Margin← 16.0 | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct40.9 |
| Inst. Following | Gemma 4 E2BNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct75.8 |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 43.4%B 40.9%Winner: Gemma 4 E2BΔ 2.5GPQA: Gemma 4 E2B scored 43.4%; Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct scored 40.9%. Gemma 4 E2B wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Gemma 4 E2B | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Gemma 4 E2B$0 input / $0 output | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-InstructNot available | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Gemma 4 E2BNot available | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-InstructNot available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Gemma 4 E2BNot available | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-InstructNot available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Gemma 4 E2B128K | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct128K | Listed context windows are equal. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic2 benchmarks
Coding1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 E2B | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-SciCodeSource | 20.9% | — | Not comparable |
Reasoning2 benchmarks
KnowledgeGemma 4 E2B wins10 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 E2B | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 43.4% | 40.9% | Gemma 4 E2B leads |
| MMLU-ProSource | 60% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 9.3% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 37.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-HLESource | 4.8% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | -24.0% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 6.7% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 32.9% | — | Not comparable |
| MMLU-ReduxSource | — | 78.1% | Not comparable |
| GPQA-DSource | — | 40.9% | Not comparable |
Multimodal1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemma 4 E2B | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-MMMU-ProSource | 44.6% | — | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Gemma 4 E2B or Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct?
Gemma 4 E2B and Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct are tied on the BenchAlign overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Gemma 4 E2B or Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Instruct?
Gemma 4 E2B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 56.9 versus 40.9. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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