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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemma 4 12B IT vs Qwen3.5 Flash

Qwen3.5 Flash comes out ahead, 79 to 75 on our weighted score, though Gemma 4 12B IT is 29% cheaper per token.

  1. Google

    Gemma 4 12B IT

    Released Jun 9, 2026

    75/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.075 / $0.275
    • Context262K
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 Flash

    Released Feb 23, 2026

    79/100
    • ECI144.0
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1M
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.5 Flash is our pick

Qwen3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Gemma 4 12B IT (75). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Gemma 4 12B IT wins on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceGemma 4 12B ITGemma 4 12B IT $0.125 · Qwen3.5 Flash $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.5 FlashQwen3.5 Flash 1,000,000 · Gemma 4 12B IT 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.5 FlashGemma 4 12B IT: Text, Images · Qwen3.5 Flash: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingGemma 4 12B ITPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemma 4 12B ITQwen3.5 Flash
Price50%9386
Inputs & features30%7080
Context window20%3760
Overall100%75/10079/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemma 4 12B IT vs Qwen3.5 Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 4 12B ITGoogleQwen3.5 FlashAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—144.0
ECI rank—#82 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—82.3%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—18.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—84.4%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—20.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.075 (best)$0.10
Output$0.275 (best)$0.40
Cached input—$0.01
Blended (3:1)$0.125 (best)$0.175
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—qwen3.5-flash
API providers28 (best)
ReleasedJun 9, 2026Feb 23, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemma 4 12B IT$1.30
  • Qwen3.5 Flash$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemma 4 12B IT or Qwen3.5 Flash?

Qwen3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Gemma 4 12B IT (75). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Gemma 4 12B IT wins on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 12B IT or Qwen3.5 Flash?

Gemma 4 12B IT is cheaper at $0.075 input / $0.275 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Qwen3.5 Flash costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.125 per million tokens for Gemma 4 12B IT versus $0.175 for Qwen3.5 Flash (1.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Gemma 4 12B IT has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 Flash has an ECI of 144.0.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 4 12B IT and Qwen3.5 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.5 Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Gemma 4 12B IT. Maximum output per response: Gemma 4 12B IT up to 32,768, Qwen3.5 Flash up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemma 4 12B IT accepts text and images; Qwen3.5 Flash accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Gemma 4 12B IT publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.5 Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemma 4 12B IT is the newest, released Jun 9, 2026. Qwen3.5 Flash came out Feb 23, 2026.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.