Gemma 4 12B IT vs Gemma 4 E4B IT

Name: Gemma 4 12B IT
Author: Google DeepMind

Gemma 4 12B IT (2026) and Gemma 4 E4B IT (2026) are frontier reasoning models from Google DeepMind. Gemma 4 12B IT ships a 256k-token context window, while Gemma 4 E4B IT ships a 128k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Gemma 4 12B IT leads by 7.8 pts. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.

Gemma 4 12B IT is safer overall; choose Gemma 4 E4B IT when provider fit matters.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first

Signal	Gemma 4 12B IT	Gemma 4 E4B IT	How to read it
Best for	reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents	multimodal apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production	Use-case synthesis from product type, capability flags, context, and provider data.
Decision fit	Coding, RAG, and Agents	Coding, RAG, and Agents	Primary workload tags from local decision data.
Context window	256k	128k	Higher is better when prompts, retrieval chunks, or transcripts are large.
Cheapest output	-	-	Cheapest tracked provider route; verify your exact region and tier.
Provider routes	2 tracked	2 tracked	Broader coverage can reduce vendor lock-in and fallback risk.
Shared benchmarks	MMLU PRO leader	4 shared	Visible benchmark lead is 7.8 points on MMLU PRO.

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Gemma 4 12B IT when...

Gemma 4 12B IT holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 7.8 points.
Gemma 4 12B IT has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
Gemma 4 12B IT uniquely exposes Vision and Reasoning in local model data.
Local decision data tags Gemma 4 12B IT for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Choose Gemma 4 E4B IT when...

Local decision data tags Gemma 4 E4B IT for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Requests / monthInput tokens / requestOutput tokens / request

Gemma 4 12B IT

Unavailable

No complete token price in local provider data

Gemma 4 E4B IT

Unavailable

No complete token price in local provider data

Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.

Switch friction

Gemma 4 12B IT -> Gemma 4 E4B IT

No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Gemma 4 12B IT and Gemma 4 E4B IT; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
Check replacement coverage for Vision and Reasoning before moving production traffic.

Gemma 4 E4B IT -> Gemma 4 12B IT

No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Gemma 4 E4B IT and Gemma 4 12B IT; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
Gemma 4 12B IT adds Vision and Reasoning in local capability data.

Specs

Specification	Gemma 4 12B IT Google DeepMind	Gemma 4 E4B IT Google DeepMind
Released	2026-06-03	2026-03-31
Context window	256k	128k
Parameters	12B	4B
Architecture	Decoder Only	-
License	Apache 2.0OSI-approved	Apache 2.0OSI-approved
Openness	Open source	Open source
Weights	Available	Available
Code	Unknown	Unknown
Commercial use	Commercial use: permitted	Commercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff	2025-01	2025-01

Pricing and availability

Pricing attribute	Gemma 4 12B IT	Gemma 4 E4B IT
Input price	-	-
Output price	-	-
Providers	Hugging Face Inference Endpoints Kaggle Models	Google AI Studio GCP Vertex AI

Pricing not yet sourced for either model.

Capabilities

Capability	Gemma 4 12B IT	Gemma 4 E4B IT
Vision	Yes	No
Multimodal	Yes	Yes
Reasoning	Yes	No
JSON / Tool use	Yes	Yes
Structured outputs	Yes	Yes
Code execution	No	No
IDE integration	No	No
Computer use	No	No
Parallel agents	No	No

Benchmarks

Benchmark	Gemma 4 12B IT	Gemma 4 E4B IT
MMLU PRO	77.2	69.4
Google-Proof Q&A	78.8	58.6
LiveCodeBench	72.0	52.0
AIME 2026	77.5	42.5

Continue comparing

Model pages

Labs and families

Last reviewed: 2026-06-29. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.

Both models

Gemma 4 12B IT Gemma 4 E4B IT