Gemma 3 12B vs Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Gemma 3 12B and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct are closely matched at 5.6 and 1.9 on the LLM Stats Score.
Google · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Gemma 3 12B and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 5.6 and 1.9.
In the 7 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Gemma 3 12B wins 6; 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 Gemma 3 12B
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 6 of 7 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025
Choose Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
- you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
26 reported for Gemma 3 12B · 31 for Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Gemma 3 12B outperforms in 6 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU-Pro), while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MBPP).
Gemma 3 12B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct has 48.0B more parameters than Gemma 3 12B, making it 400.0% larger.
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).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Gemma 3 12B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct does not.
Gemma 3 12B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Gemma 3 12B
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Gemma 3 12B is licensed under Gemma, while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Gemma
Open weights
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Gemma 3 12B was released on 2025-03-12, while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.
Gemma 3 12B is 7 months newer than Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct.
Mar 12, 2025
1.5 years ago
6mo newerAug 23, 2024
2.1 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Gemma 3 12B and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Gemma 3 12B vs Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct.