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Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemma 3 12B

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 58.1 to 5.6. Gemma 3 12B is 53.3x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · Google · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 58.1 to 5.6, ranking #3 overall.

On price, Gemma 3 12B is roughly 53.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Sonnet 5.5 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Sonnet 5.5

  • overall performance matters — it scores 58.1 and ranks #3 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2026

Choose Gemma 3 12B

  • cost matters — it's about 53.3x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Sonnet 5.5
Anthropic
Gemma 3 12B
Google
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
58.1
#3
5.6
#302
Reasoning
56.6
#3
5.9
#296
Coding
48.9
#2
2.8
#229
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$2.00 / M
$0.05 / M
Output price
$10.00 / M
$0.15 / M
Context window
1,000,000
131,072

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Gemma 3 12B
Math
36.9#34
12.9#231
Vision
40.1#3
-4.4#203
Multimodal
40.2#2
-1.9#163
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

47 reported for Claude Sonnet 5.5 · 26 for Gemma 3 12B

No common benchmarks found

Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemma 3 12Bdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Gemma 3 12B costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 40.0x more expensive than Gemma 3 12B ($0.05/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($10.00/1M tokens) is 66.7x more expensive than Gemma 3 12B ($0.15/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 5.5 is more expensive than Gemma 3 12B.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Sep 29 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Input tokens$2.00
Output tokens$10.00
Best providerAnthropic
Google
Gemma 3 12B
Input tokens$0.05
Output tokens$0.15
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Sonnet 5.5 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Gemma 3 12B's 131,072 tokens. Gemma 3 12B can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 5.5 is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Google
Gemma 3 12B
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Tue Sep 29 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemma 3 12B support multimodal inputs.

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

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemma 3 12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Gemma 3 12B uses Gemma.

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

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Gemma 3 12B

Gemma

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 5.5 was released on 2026-09-28, while Gemma 3 12B was released on 2025-03-12.

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is 19 months newer than Gemma 3 12B.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Sep 28, 2026

1 days ago

1.5yr newer
Gemma 3 12B

Mar 12, 2025

1.6 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Claude Sonnet 5.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-06-01, while Gemma 3 12B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Claude Sonnet 5.5's training data extends to 2026-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Gemma 3 12B's cutoff date.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Jun 2026

Gemma 3 12B

—

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is available from Anthropic. Gemma 3 12B is available from DeepInfra.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $10.00/1M

Gemma 3 12B

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.05/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.15/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemma 3 12B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 5.5
✓ Preferred
Gemma 3 12B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemma 3 12B.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Gemma 3 12B?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 58.1 to 5.6. Claude Sonnet 5.5 is made by Anthropic and Gemma 3 12B is made by Google. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Claude Sonnet 5.5 compare to Gemma 3 12B in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores BenchCAD (with Python tool): 96.3%, ArXivMath (with tools): 95.2%, Global-MMLU: 92.1%, MILU: 91.6%, SWE-bench Multilingual: 90.3%. Gemma 3 12B scores GSM8k: 94.4%, IFEval: 88.9%, DocVQA: 87.1%, BIG-Bench Hard: 85.7%, HumanEval: 85.4%.

Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 cheaper than Gemma 3 12B?

Gemma 3 12B is 40.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2.00/M input and $10.00/M output via anthropic. Gemma 3 12B costs $0.05/M input and $0.15/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemma 3 12B?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 supports 1.0M tokens and Gemma 3 12B supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemma 3 12B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (58.1 vs 5.6), context window (1.0M vs 131K), input pricing ($2.00 vs $0.05/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Gemma). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemma 3 12B?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is developed by Anthropic and Gemma 3 12B is developed by Google.

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