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DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Gemma 3 12B

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemma 3 12B are closely matched at 1.2 and 5.6 on the LLM Stats Score.

DeepSeek · Google · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemma 3 12B are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 1.2 and 5.6.

In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, DeepSeek VL2 Small wins 4; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

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

Choose DeepSeek VL2 Small

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 5 exact shared results

Choose Gemma 3 12B

  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
DeepSeek
Gemma 3 12B
Google
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
1.2
#325
5.6
#299
Reasoning
-4.0
#343
5.9
#293
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
4 of 5
1 of 5
Input price
— / M
$0.05 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.15 / M
Context window
—
131,072

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Gemma 3 12B
Vision
0.6#181
-4.4#200
Multimodal
3.2#145
-1.9#160
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

14 reported for DeepSeek VL2 Small · 26 for Gemma 3 12B

5 shared

DeepSeek VL2 Small outperforms in 4 benchmarks (ChartQA, DocVQA, InfoVQA, TextVQA), while Gemma 3 12B is better at 1 benchmark (AI2D).

DeepSeek VL2 Small significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

4.0B diff

DeepSeek VL2 Small has 4.0B more parameters than Gemma 3 12B, making it 33.3% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
16.0Bparameters
Google
Gemma 3 12B
12.0Bparameters
16.0B
DeepSeek VL2 Small
12.0B
Gemma 3 12B

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Gemma 3 12B specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only Gemma 3 12B specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Google
Gemma 3 12B
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemma 3 12B support multimodal inputs.

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

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemma 3 12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek VL2 Small is licensed under deepseek, while Gemma 3 12B uses Gemma.

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

DeepSeek VL2 Small

deepseek

Open weights

Gemma 3 12B

Gemma

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek VL2 Small was released on 2024-12-13, while Gemma 3 12B was released on 2025-03-12.

Gemma 3 12B is 3 months newer than DeepSeek VL2 Small.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Dec 13, 2024

1.8 years ago

Gemma 3 12B

Mar 12, 2025

1.5 years ago

2mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemma 3 12B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
✓ Preferred
Gemma 3 12B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Gemma 3 12B.

Which is better, DeepSeek VL2 Small or Gemma 3 12B?

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemma 3 12B are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 1.2 and 5.6. DeepSeek VL2 Small is made by DeepSeek 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 DeepSeek VL2 Small compare to Gemma 3 12B in benchmarks?

DeepSeek VL2 Small scores DocVQA: 92.3%, ChartQA: 84.5%, OCRBench: 83.4%, TextVQA: 83.4%, MMBench: 80.3%. Gemma 3 12B scores GSM8k: 94.4%, IFEval: 88.9%, DocVQA: 87.1%, BIG-Bench Hard: 85.7%, HumanEval: 85.4%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemma 3 12B?

DeepSeek VL2 Small supports an unknown number of 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 DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemma 3 12B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (1.2 vs 5.6), licensing (deepseek vs Gemma). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemma 3 12B?

DeepSeek VL2 Small is developed by DeepSeek and Gemma 3 12B is developed by Google.

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