Model Comparison

Gemma 3 12B vs Phi 4 Mini

Gemma 3 12B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Gemma 3 12B outperforms in 5 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, MATH, MMLU-Pro), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 0 benchmarks.

Gemma 3 12B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu May 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

8.2B diff

Gemma 3 12B has 8.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 212.5% larger.

Google
Gemma 3 12B
12.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
3.8Bparameters
12.0B
Gemma 3 12B
3.8B
Phi 4 Mini

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).

Google
Gemma 3 12B
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Thu May 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Gemma 3 12B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Mini 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

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi 4 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemma 3 12B is licensed under Gemma, while Phi 4 Mini uses MIT.

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

Gemma 3 12B

Gemma

Open weights

Phi 4 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 3 12B was released on 2025-03-12, while Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01.

Gemma 3 12B is 1 month newer than Phi 4 Mini.

Gemma 3 12B

Mar 12, 2025

1.2 years ago

1mo newer
Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.3 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Gemma 3 12B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi 4 Mini's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Gemma 3 12B's cutoff date.

Gemma 3 12B

—

Phi 4 Mini

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Google
Larger context window (131,072 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher BIG-Bench Hard score (85.7% vs 70.4%)
Higher GPQA score (40.9% vs 25.2%)
Higher GSM8k score (94.4% vs 88.6%)
Higher MATH score (83.8% vs 64.0%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (60.6% vs 52.8%)
Microsoft

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 3 12B
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 3 12B vs Phi 4 Mini.

Which is better, Gemma 3 12B or Phi 4 Mini?

Gemma 3 12B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Gemma 3 12B is made by Google and Phi 4 Mini is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemma 3 12B compare to Phi 4 Mini in benchmarks?

Gemma 3 12B scores GSM8k: 94.4%, IFEval: 88.9%, DocVQA: 87.1%, BIG-Bench Hard: 85.7%, HumanEval: 85.4%. Phi 4 Mini scores GSM8k: 88.6%, ARC-C: 83.7%, BoolQ: 81.2%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%, PIQA: 77.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 3 12B and Phi 4 Mini?

Gemma 3 12B supports 131K tokens and Phi 4 Mini 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 Gemma 3 12B and Phi 4 Mini?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Gemma vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemma 3 12B and Phi 4 Mini?

Gemma 3 12B is developed by Google and Phi 4 Mini is developed by Microsoft.