# Gemma 4 12B vs Inkling

> Side-by-side benchmark comparison for Gemma 4 12B and Inkling across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, multilingual, and math tasks.

- Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/compare/gemma-4-12b-vs-inkling
- Last updated: October 14, 2026

- Shared sourced benchmarks: 5
- HTML indexing: indexable
- Ranking lane: BenchAlign v5.8

## Quick Verdict

Inkling leads by point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence. Choose using the category evidence and your own workload tests.

## Summary

- Inkling has the higher overall point estimate 52.13 to 36.69. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.
- The clearest category separation is in reasoning, where the averages are 52.6 for Gemma 4 12B and 79 for Inkling.
- The biggest single benchmark swing is HLE w/o tools in Knowledge, with scores of 5.2% and 30%.
- Inkling also has the larger context window at 1M.

## Model Snapshot

| Property | Gemma 4 12B | Inkling |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Creator | Google | Thinking Machines Lab |
| Type | Open Weight | Open Weight |
| Reasoning | Reasoning | Hybrid |
| Context | 256K | 1M |
| Overall Score | 36.69 | 52.13 |
| Benchmarks Covered | 11 | 24 |
| Pricing (input/output) | N/A | $1.87 / $4.68 |

## Category Breakdown

### Agentic

- Winner: Not comparable
- Gemma 4 12B public-lane score: Coming soon
- Inkling public-lane score: 36.2 (Supported · #72/124)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | Inkling | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | Coming soon | 63.8% | Coming soon |
| BrowseComp | Coming soon | 77.1% | Coming soon |
| MCP Atlas | Coming soon | 74.1% | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals) | Coming soon | 47.6% | Coming soon |
| CWE-bench v1 | Coming soon | 37.0% | Coming soon |

### Coding

- Winner: Directional only
- Gemma 4 12B public-lane score: 23.2 (Estimated · #111/149)
- Inkling public-lane score: 34 (Supported · #80/149)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | Inkling | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| LiveCodeBench v6 | 72.0% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench Verified | Coming soon | 77.6% | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench Pro | Coming soon | 54.3% | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | Coming soon | 63.8% | Coming soon |
| FrontierSWE v2 | Coming soon | 4.1% | Coming soon |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals) | Coming soon | 85.5% | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench (Vals) | Coming soon | 77.6% | Coming soon |

### Reasoning

- Winner: Not comparable
- Gemma 4 12B public-lane score: 52.6 (Unranked · 3 rankable rows)
- Inkling public-lane score: 79 (#14/29)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | Inkling | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| MRCRv2 | 43.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |

### Multimodal & Grounded

- Winner: Directional only
- Gemma 4 12B public-lane score: 59.4 (#44/54)
- Inkling public-lane score: 67.5 (#35/54)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | Inkling | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| MMMU-Pro | 69.1% | 73.5% | Inkling |
| MathVision | 79.7% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| MedXpertQA (MM) | 48.7% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CharXiv | Coming soon | 82% | Coming soon |
| CharXiv w/o tools | Coming soon | 78.1% | Coming soon |

### Knowledge

- Winner: Inkling
- Gemma 4 12B public-lane score: 35.8 (Supported · #130/181)
- Inkling public-lane score: 54.5 (Supported · #62/181)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | Inkling | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| GPQA | 78.8% | 87.9% | Inkling |
| GPQA-D | 78.8% | 87.9% | Inkling |
| MMLU-Pro | 77.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HLE w/o tools | 5.2% | 30% | Inkling |
| MMMLU | 83.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HLE | Coming soon | 46% | Coming soon |
| GPQA Diamond (Vals) | Coming soon | 87.1% | Coming soon |
| MMLU-Pro (Vals) | Coming soon | 86.3% | Coming soon |

### Instruction Following

- Winner: Directional only
- Gemma 4 12B public-lane score: 90.1 (#25/128)
- Inkling public-lane score: 87.6 (#35/128)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | Inkling | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| IFBench | Coming soon | 79.8% | Coming soon |

### Mathematics

- Winner: Not comparable
- Gemma 4 12B public-lane score: 61.3 (Unranked · 1 rankable row)
- Inkling public-lane score: 58.3 (#11/12)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 12B | Inkling | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| AIME26 | 77.5% | 97.1% | Inkling |
| FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) | Coming soon | 33.333% | Coming soon |
| FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4) | Coming soon | 4.878% | Coming soon |

## FAQ

### Which is better overall, Gemma 4 12B or Inkling?

Inkling has the higher overall point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.

### Where is the biggest gap between Gemma 4 12B and Inkling?

The widest category gap is in reasoning, where the averages are 52.6 for Gemma 4 12B and 79 for Inkling.

### How many benchmarks does Gemma 4 12B cover on BenchLM?

Gemma 4 12B currently has 11 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

### How many benchmarks does Inkling cover on BenchLM?

Inkling currently has 24 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

## Related Comparisons

- [Gemma 4 12B vs Gemma 4 26B A4B](/compare/gemma-4-12b-vs-gemma-4-26b-a4b)
- [Inkling vs Gemma 4 26B A4B](/compare/gemma-4-26b-a4b-vs-inkling)
- [Gemma 4 12B vs Gemma 4 31B](/compare/gemma-4-12b-vs-gemma-4-31b)
- [Inkling vs Gemma 4 31B](/compare/gemma-4-31b-vs-inkling)

## Explore More

- [Gemma 4 12B profile](/models/gemma-4-12b)
- [Inkling profile](/models/inkling)
- [Compare Pricing](/llm-pricing)
- [Alternative Finder](/tools/alternative-finder)
- [LLM Selector](/tools/llm-selector)
- [Overall Rankings](/best/overall)