Model Comparison

Claude Opus 4.8 vs Gemma 4 12BWhich is better in 2026?

Claude Opus 4.8 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Claude Opus 4.8 vs Gemma 4 12B — which is better?

Claude Opus 4.8 (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 Opus 4.8 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam), while Gemma 4 12B is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.8 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2026

Choose Gemma 4 12B if…

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

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Claude Opus 4.8 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam), while Gemma 4 12B is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Opus 4.8 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 Opus 4.8 specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only Claude Opus 4.8 specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8
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 Opus 4.8 and Gemma 4 12B support multimodal inputs.

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

Claude Opus 4.8

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemma 4 12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Opus 4.8 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 Opus 4.8

Proprietary

Closed source

Gemma 4 12B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.8 was released on 2026-05-28, while Gemma 4 12B was released on 2026-05-23.

Claude Opus 4.8 is 0 month newer than Gemma 4 12B.

Claude Opus 4.8

May 28, 2026

1 months ago

5d 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 Opus 4.8'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 Opus 4.8's cutoff date.

Claude Opus 4.8

—

Gemma 4 12B

Jan 2025

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
Higher GPQA score (93.6% vs 78.8%)
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (57.9% vs 5.2%)
Google
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4.8 and Gemma 4 12B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 4.8
✓ Preferred
Gemma 4 12B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8
Google
Gemma 4 12B

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.8 vs Gemma 4 12B.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.8 or Gemma 4 12B?

Claude Opus 4.8 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.8 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 Opus 4.8 compare to Gemma 4 12B in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.8 scores GPQA: 93.6%, DeepSearchQA: 93.1%, CharXiv-R: 89.9%, SWE-Bench Verified: 88.6%, ScreenSpot Pro: 87.9%. 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 Opus 4.8 and Gemma 4 12B?

Claude Opus 4.8 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 Opus 4.8 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 Opus 4.8 and Gemma 4 12B?

Claude Opus 4.8 is developed by Anthropic and Gemma 4 12B is developed by Google.

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