Gemma 4 12B vs Gemma 4 E4B

Name: Gemma 4 12B
Author: Google DeepMind

Gemma 4 12B (2026) and Gemma 4 E4B (2026) are frontier reasoning models from Google DeepMind. Gemma 4 12B ships a 256k-token context window, while Gemma 4 E4B ships a 128k-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. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.

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

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first

Signal	Gemma 4 12B	Gemma 4 E4B	How to read it
Best for	reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents	multimodal apps and tool-calling agents	Use-case synthesis from product type, capability flags, context, and provider data.
Decision fit	RAG, Agents, and Long context	RAG, Agents, and Long context	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	1 tracked	Broader coverage can reduce vendor lock-in and fallback risk.
Shared benchmarks	0 shared	0 shared	No shared benchmark scores are available for this pair yet.

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Gemma 4 12B when...

Gemma 4 12B has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
Gemma 4 12B has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
Gemma 4 12B uniquely exposes Vision, Reasoning, and Structured outputs in local model data.
Local decision data tags Gemma 4 12B for RAG, Agents, and Long context.

Choose Gemma 4 E4B when...

Local decision data tags Gemma 4 E4B for RAG, Agents, and Long context.

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

Unavailable

No complete token price in local provider data

Gemma 4 E4B

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 -> Gemma 4 E4B

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

Gemma 4 E4B -> Gemma 4 12B

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

Specs

Specification	Gemma 4 12B Google DeepMind	Gemma 4 E4B 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	Gemma 4 E4B
Input price	-	-
Output price	-	-
Providers	Hugging Face Inference Endpoints Kaggle Models	GCP Vertex AI

Pricing not yet sourced for either model.

Capabilities

Capability	Gemma 4 12B	Gemma 4 E4B
Vision	Yes	No
Multimodal	Yes	Yes
Reasoning	Yes	No
JSON / Tool use	Yes	Yes
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

Model pages

Labs and families

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

Both models

Gemma 4 12B Gemma 4 E4B