Model Comparison

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

Claude Sonnet 5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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

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

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

Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 5 specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only Claude Sonnet 5 specifies output context (64,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output64,000 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 Sonnet 5 and Gemma 4 12B support multimodal inputs.

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

Claude Sonnet 5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemma 4 12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 5

Proprietary

Closed source

Gemma 4 12B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 5 was released on 2026-06-30, while Gemma 4 12B was released on 2026-05-23.

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

Claude Sonnet 5

Jun 30, 2026

2 weeks ago

1mo 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 Sonnet 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 Sonnet 5's cutoff date.

Claude Sonnet 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 (57.4% vs 5.2%)
Google
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

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

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

FAQ

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

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

Claude Sonnet 5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 5 compare to Gemma 4 12B in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 5 scores CharXiv-R: 88.3%, ChartMuseum: 86.7%, SWE-Bench Verified: 85.2%, BrowseComp: 84.7%, GDP.pdf: 81.6%. 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 Sonnet 5 and Gemma 4 12B?

Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 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 Sonnet 5 and Gemma 4 12B?

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

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