Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Gemma 3 12B
Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads Gemma 3 12B on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 26.3 to 3.8, and Gemma 3 12B costs 18.5x less per output token ($0.1625 vs $3.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 15 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Gemma 3 12B: which to pick
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a coding score, 43.7 on the Vibe Coding Index; Gemma 3 12B has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Gemma 3 12B for output tokens 18.5x cheaper ($0.1625 vs $3.00 per million).
- Shared results
- 15
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview only
- 54
- Gemma 3 12B only
- 26
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads, 26.3 against 3.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemma 3 12B has a AA Agentic Index result, 0.1.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a GPQA Diamond result, 87.9%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a AIME result, 95.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a MMLU Pro result, 88.6%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a Design Arena: websites result, 1196.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview takes 1.05M tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemma 3 12B
Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.0020, Gemma 3 12B $0.0002 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has the number, $0.37.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview 43.7 from 2 benchmarks, Gemma 3 12B not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Math, 78.8 points apart on average over 3 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- OTIS Mock AIME: Gemini 3 Flash Preview 95.6% against Gemma 3 12B 16.7%, 78.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview $3.00 against Gemma 3 12B $0.1625 per million output tokens, 18.5x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview takes 1.05M tokens, Gemma 3 12B 131K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Bars | Gemma 3 12B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 3 | 0 | ||
| Math | 3 | 0 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 0 | ||
| General | 4 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 15 | 0 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index20
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 75.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 5.8 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 85.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 75.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 20.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 6.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 53.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 90.8% | 13.7% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| SciCode | Not measured | 16.4% | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 38.6% | 0.8% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| Terminal-Bench | 64.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| GSO-Bench | 9.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| WeirdML | 61.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ALE-Bench | 1367.2 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1281 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1313 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 21 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 26.3 | 3.8 | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 123.5 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 0.1 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | 1110 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1063 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1090 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | 1050 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | 1161 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | 1036 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 42.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 11.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 18.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 26.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 80.4% | 10.8% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| BALROG | 48.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| DeepResearch Bench | 49.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $3,635 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 87.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 87.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 89.8% | 34.9% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 36.6% | 4.2% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 89.4% | 39.5% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| ARC-AGI | 84.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 33.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| SimpleBench | 61.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Chess puzzles | 39.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 26.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| VPCT | 72.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1309 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1248 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1318 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 95.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 93.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| AA Math Index | 97.0 | 18.3 | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 97.0% | 18.3% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 95.6% | 16.7% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 51.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 17.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ProofBench | 15.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1307 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1336 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 88.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 86.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 55.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 66.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 73.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 95.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 55.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 89.0% | 59.5% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| SimpleQA Verified | 66.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| GeoBench | 88.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1366 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1334 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1381 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1376 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1196 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1166 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1184 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1189 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 51.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 69.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 52.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| IFBench | 78.0% | 36.7% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 78.0% | 8.3% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| DTBench | 89.1% | 48.8% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| LMCA | 43.1% | 4.5% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1334 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1299 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1331 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1349 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1318 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1370 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1335 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1334 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1317 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1307 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1297 | Only Gemma 3 12B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 28 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Gemma 3 12B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemma 3 12B costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemma 3 12B costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemma 3 12B costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Google Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Google Gemma 3 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | ||
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | December 17, 2025 | March 13, 2025 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 131K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.50 | $0.075 |
| Output $/Mtok | $3.00 | $0.1625 |
| Coding index | 43.7 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.37 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3 Flash Preview better than Gemma 3 12B for coding?
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a coding score, 43.7 on the Vibe Coding Index; Gemma 3 12B has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemma 3 12B for output tokens 18.5x cheaper ($0.1625 vs $3.00 per million).
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Gemma 3 12B?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview costs $0.50 per million input tokens and $3.00 per million output tokens; Gemma 3 12B costs $0.075 and $0.1625. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3 Flash Preview only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Gemma 3 12B?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview, with 1.05M tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Gemma 3 12B comparison based on?
15 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 3 Flash Preview's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Gemma 3 12B's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.