Model Comparison

Claude Fable 5 vs Gemma 4 12BWhich is better in 2026?

Claude Fable 5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Claude Fable 5 vs Gemma 4 12B — which is better?

Claude Fable 5 (by Anthropic) and Gemma 4 12B (by Google) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Claude Fable 5 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (Humanity's Last Exam), while Gemma 4 12B is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude Fable 5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Claude Fable 5 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2026

Choose Gemma 4 12B if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Claude Fable 5 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (Humanity's Last Exam), while Gemma 4 12B is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Fable 5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Claude Fable 5 specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only Claude Fable 5 specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude Fable 5
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Google
Gemma 4 12B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Fable 5 and Gemma 4 12B support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Fable 5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemma 4 12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Fable 5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Gemma 4 12B uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Fable 5

Proprietary

Closed source

Gemma 4 12B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Fable 5 was released on 2026-06-09, while Gemma 4 12B was released on 2026-05-23.

Claude Fable 5 is 1 month newer than Gemma 4 12B.

Claude Fable 5

Jun 9, 2026

1 months ago

2w newer
Gemma 4 12B

May 23, 2026

1 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemma 4 12B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-01, while Claude Fable 5's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemma 4 12B's training data extends to 2025-01-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude Fable 5's cutoff date.

Claude Fable 5

—

Gemma 4 12B

Jan 2025

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (64.5% vs 5.2%)
Google
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Fable 5 and Gemma 4 12B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Fable 5
✓ Preferred
Gemma 4 12B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Fable 5
Google
Gemma 4 12B

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Fable 5 vs Gemma 4 12B.

Which is better, Claude Fable 5 or Gemma 4 12B?

Claude Fable 5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Fable 5 is made by Anthropic and Gemma 4 12B is made by Google. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude Fable 5 compare to Gemma 4 12B in benchmarks?

Claude Fable 5 scores SWE-Bench Verified: 95.0%, FrontierSWE: 90.0%, OSWorld-Verified: 85.0%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 84.3%, SWE-Bench Pro: 80.0%. Gemma 4 12B scores FLEURS: 93.1%, MMMLU: 83.4%, MathVision: 79.7%, GPQA: 78.8%, AIME 2026: 77.5%.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Fable 5 and Gemma 4 12B?

Claude Fable 5 supports 1.0M tokens and Gemma 4 12B supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Fable 5 and Gemma 4 12B?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Fable 5 and Gemma 4 12B?

Claude Fable 5 is developed by Anthropic and Gemma 4 12B is developed by Google.

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