Model Comparison

Gemma 4 12B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Gemma 4 12B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemma 4 12B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct — which is better?

Gemma 4 12B (by Google) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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.

Gemma 4 12B outperforms in 3 benchmarks (LiveCodeBench v6, MathVision, MMMU-Pro), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU-Pro). Gemma 4 12B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose Gemma 4 12B if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2026

Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.30/M input and $1.49/M output

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Gemma 4 12B outperforms in 3 benchmarks (LiveCodeBench v6, MathVision, MMMU-Pro), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU-Pro).

Gemma 4 12B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Sat Jul 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

224.0B diff

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has 224.0B more parameters than Gemma 4 12B, making it 1873.3% larger.

Google
Gemma 4 12B
12.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
236.0Bparameters
12.0B
Gemma 4 12B
236.0B
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct specifies output context (262,144 tokens).

Google
Gemma 4 12B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Sat Jul 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Gemma 4 12B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

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

Gemma 4 12B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Gemma 4 12B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 4 12B was released on 2026-05-23, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Gemma 4 12B is 8 months newer than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Gemma 4 12B

May 23, 2026

2 months ago

8mo newer
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

10 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemma 4 12B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-01, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct'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 Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct's cutoff date.

Gemma 4 12B

Jan 2025

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

—

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Google
Higher LiveCodeBench v6 score (72.0% vs 54.3%)
Higher MathVision score (79.7% vs 66.5%)
Higher MMMU-Pro score (69.1% vs 68.1%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (81.8% vs 77.2%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemma 4 12B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemma 4 12B
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 4 12B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 4 12B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Which is better, Gemma 4 12B or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Gemma 4 12B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Gemma 4 12B is made by Google and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemma 4 12B compare to Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct in benchmarks?

Gemma 4 12B scores FLEURS: 93.1%, MMMLU: 83.4%, MathVision: 79.7%, GPQA: 78.8%, AIME 2026: 77.5%. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 97.1%, ScreenSpot: 95.4%, MMLU-Redux: 92.2%, OCRBench: 92.0%, MMBench-V1.1: 89.9%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 4 12B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Gemma 4 12B supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

Who makes Gemma 4 12B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Gemma 4 12B is developed by Google and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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