Gemma 4 12B vs Mercury 3
Mercury 3 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 21.6.
Google · Inception · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Mercury 3 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 36.1 to 21.6, ranking #98 overall.
In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Mercury 3 wins 1; 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 4 12B
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Mercury 3
- overall performance matters — it scores 36.1 and ranks #98 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
15 reported for Gemma 4 12B · 12 for Mercury 3
Gemma 4 12B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Mercury 3 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Mercury 3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Mercury 3 specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only Mercury 3 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Gemma 4 12B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mercury 3 does not.
Gemma 4 12B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Gemma 4 12B
Mercury 3
License
Usage and distribution terms
Gemma 4 12B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Mercury 3 uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Gemma 4 12B was released on 2026-05-23, while Mercury 3 was released on 2026-10-19.
Mercury 3 is 5 months newer than Gemma 4 12B.
May 23, 2026
5 months ago
Oct 19, 2026
1 weeks ago
4mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Gemma 4 12B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-01, while Mercury 3'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 Mercury 3's cutoff date.
Jan 2025
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Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Gemma 4 12B and Mercury 3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Gemma 4 12B vs Mercury 3.