Gemma 3 12B vs Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety
Gemma 3 12B (2026) and Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety (2025) are compact production models from Google DeepMind and NVIDIA AI. Gemma 3 12B ships a 33k-token context window, while Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety ships a 4k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Gemma 3 12B fits 8x more tokens; pick it for long-context work and Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety for tighter calls.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | general production evaluation |
| Decision fit | Classification and JSON / Tool use | Classification |
| Context window | 33k | 4k |
| Cheapest output | $0.13/1M tokens | - |
| Provider routes | 5 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Gemma 3 12B has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Gemma 3 12B has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Gemma 3 12B uniquely exposes Structured outputs in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Gemma 3 12B for Classification and JSON / Tool use.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety for Classification.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Gemma 3 12B
$64.50
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Gemma 3 12B and Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety and Gemma 3 12B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Gemma 3 12B adds Structured outputs in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2026-01-01 | 2025-01-01 |
| Context window | 33k | 4k |
| Parameters | 12B | 8B |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Gemma | Open Weights |
| Openness | Open weights | Open weights |
| Weights | Unknown | Unknown |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | - |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-08 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.04/1M tokens | - |
| Output price | $0.13/1M tokens | - |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Gemma 3 12B | Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| JSON / Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
Continue comparing
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Popular comparisons for Gemma 3 12B
Popular comparisons for Llama 3.1 NemoGuard 8B Content Safety
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Last reviewed: 2026-06-29. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.