Model Comparison

Gemma 4 12B vs Mistral Medium 3.5Which is better in 2026?

Comparing Gemma 4 12B and Mistral Medium 3.5 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Gemma 4 12B vs Mistral Medium 3.5 — which is better?

Gemma 4 12B (by Google) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Choose Gemma 4 12B if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2026

Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $1.50/M input and $7.50/M output

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Gemma 4 12B and Mistral Medium 3.5don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

116.0B diff

Mistral Medium 3.5 has 116.0B more parameters than Gemma 4 12B, making it 970.3% larger.

Google
Gemma 4 12B
12.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral Medium 3.5
128.0Bparameters
12.0B
Gemma 4 12B
128.0B
Mistral Medium 3.5

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral Medium 3.5 specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only Mistral Medium 3.5 specifies output context (256,000 tokens).

Google
Gemma 4 12B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral Medium 3.5
Input256,000 tokens
Output256,000 tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Gemma 4 12B and Mistral Medium 3.5 support multimodal inputs.

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

Gemma 4 12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral Medium 3.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemma 4 12B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Mistral Medium 3.5 uses Modified MIT License.

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

Gemma 4 12B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Mistral Medium 3.5

Modified MIT License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 4 12B was released on 2026-05-23, while Mistral Medium 3.5 was released on 2026-04-29.

Gemma 4 12B is 1 month newer than Mistral Medium 3.5.

Gemma 4 12B

May 23, 2026

1 months ago

3w newer
Mistral Medium 3.5

Apr 29, 2026

2 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemma 4 12B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-01, while Mistral Medium 3.5'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 Mistral Medium 3.5's cutoff date.

Gemma 4 12B

Jan 2025

Mistral Medium 3.5

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Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Google

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

Mistral AI
Larger context window (256,000 tokens)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemma 4 12B and Mistral Medium 3.5 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemma 4 12B
✓ Preferred
Mistral Medium 3.5
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 4 12B
Mistral AI
Mistral Medium 3.5

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 4 12B vs Mistral Medium 3.5.

Which is better, Gemma 4 12B or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Gemma 4 12B (Google) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Gemma 4 12B compare to Mistral Medium 3.5 in benchmarks?

Gemma 4 12B scores FLEURS: 93.1%, MMMLU: 83.4%, MathVision: 79.7%, GPQA: 78.8%, AIME 2026: 77.5%. Mistral Medium 3.5 scores COLLIE: 95.8%, Tau3 Telecom: 91.4%, AIME 2025: 86.3%, SWE-Bench Verified: 77.6%, Tau3 Retail: 76.1%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 4 12B and Mistral Medium 3.5?

Gemma 4 12B supports an unknown number of tokens and Mistral Medium 3.5 supports 256K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemma 4 12B and Mistral Medium 3.5?

Key differences include licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Modified MIT License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemma 4 12B and Mistral Medium 3.5?

Gemma 4 12B is developed by Google and Mistral Medium 3.5 is developed by Mistral AI.

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