ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen 3.8 Max Prime vs Gemma 4 12B IT

Gemma 4 12B IT comes out ahead, 75 to 42 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen 3.8 Max Prime

    Released Sep 23, 2026

    42/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$4.00 / $12.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen 3.8 Max Prime
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemma 4 12B IT

    Released Jun 9, 2026

    75/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.075 / $0.275
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 4 12B IT

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemma 4 12B IT is our pick

Gemma 4 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Qwen 3.8 Max Prime (42). It leads on price. Qwen 3.8 Max Prime wins on inputs & features and context window. 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 · Qwen 3.8 Max Prime $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen 3.8 Max PrimeQwen 3.8 Max Prime 1,000,000 · Gemma 4 12B IT 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen 3.8 Max PrimeQwen 3.8 Max Prime: Text, Images, Video · Gemma 4 12B IT: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingGemma 4 12B ITPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen 3.8 Max PrimeGemma 4 12B IT
Price50%1393
Inputs & features30%8070
Context window20%6037
Overall100%42/10075/100

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.

Qwen 3.8 Max Prime vs Gemma 4 12B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen 3.8 Max PrimeAlibaba (Qwen)Gemma 4 12B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$4.00$0.075 (best)
Output$12.00$0.275 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$6.00$0.125 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 4 providersMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model ID——
API providers4 (best)2
ReleasedSep 23, 2026Jun 9, 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.

  • Qwen 3.8 Max Prime$64.00
  • Gemma 4 12B IT$1.30
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen 3.8 Max Prime or Gemma 4 12B IT?

Gemma 4 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Qwen 3.8 Max Prime (42). It leads on price. Qwen 3.8 Max Prime wins on inputs & features and context window. 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, Qwen 3.8 Max Prime or Gemma 4 12B IT?

Gemma 4 12B IT is cheaper at $0.075 input / $0.275 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Qwen 3.8 Max Prime costs $4.00 input / $12.00 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). 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 $6.00 for Qwen 3.8 Max Prime (48× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen 3.8 Max Prime has not been scored yet and Gemma 4 12B IT has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen 3.8 Max Prime and Gemma 4 12B IT 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?

Qwen 3.8 Max Prime has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Gemma 4 12B IT. Maximum output per response: Qwen 3.8 Max Prime up to 131,072, Gemma 4 12B IT up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen 3.8 Max Prime accepts text, images and video; Gemma 4 12B IT accepts text and images. Qwen 3.8 Max Prime handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Gemma 4 12B IT publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen 3.8 Max Prime is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen 3.8 Max Prime is the newest, released Sep 23, 2026. Gemma 4 12B IT came out Jun 9, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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