Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen2.5 14B Instruct
Gemma 3 12B and Qwen2.5 14B Instruct are closely matched at 5.6 and 3.8 on the LLM Stats Score.
Google · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Gemma 3 12B and Qwen2.5 14B Instruct are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 5.6 and 3.8.
In the 6 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen2.5 14B Instruct 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 Gemma 3 12B
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025
Choose Qwen2.5 14B Instruct
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 6 exact shared results
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 · 16 for Qwen2.5 14B Instruct
Gemma 3 12B outperforms in 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MATH), while Qwen2.5 14B Instruct is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MBPP, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen2.5 14B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen2.5 14B Instruct has 2.7B more parameters than Gemma 3 12B, making it 22.5% 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 Qwen2.5 14B 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
Qwen2.5 14B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Gemma 3 12B is licensed under Gemma, while Qwen2.5 14B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Gemma
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Gemma 3 12B was released on 2025-03-12, while Qwen2.5 14B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19.
Gemma 3 12B is 6 months newer than Qwen2.5 14B Instruct.
Mar 12, 2025
1.6 years ago
5mo newerSep 19, 2024
2.0 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 Qwen2.5 14B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen2.5 14B Instruct.