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GoogleGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteVSGoogleGemma 4 12B

Analysis by:the whichllmmodel Editorial Team|Updated: June 2026

Our Take

We recommend Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite if you need peak intelligence and a much larger context window for full-repo analysis, or the free Gemma 4 12B if you want zero API costs and total offline privacy. While Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite offers superior reasoning capability, Gemma 4 12B runs entirely on your own local hardware. Choose Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite for repository-scale analysis, or Gemma 4 12B for zero-cost offline privacy and scripting single-file apps or clearly defined functions.
▶WHY?
Benchmark Calculations & Evidence:
  • Reasoning Accuracy: Both models were evaluated on the GPQA Diamond benchmark. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite scored 82.2%, while Gemma 4 12B scored 78.8% (+3.4% gap).
  • Coding Performance: Both models were evaluated on the LiveCodeBench benchmark. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite scored 72%, while Gemma 4 12B scored 72% (+0.0% gap).
  • Context Window: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite supports a 1M context window, while Gemma 4 12B supports 262k.
  • Hosting Model: Gemma 4 12B runs locally for $0 API costs, while Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is a cloud API.
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    Model Specs

    Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

    Website

    Benchmarks & Scores

    Coding (live-code-bench)
    72%

    scripting single-file apps or clearly defined functions

    Reasoning (gpqa-diamond)Winner (+3.4%)
    82.2%

    graduate-level science QA

    Cost & Context

    Cost (per 1M tokens)
    $0.56Input: $0.25 | Output: $1.50
    Context WindowLarger
    1.05M tokens
    Model Specs

    Gemma 4 12B

    Open Source
    🤗HF

    Benchmarks & Scores

    Coding (live-code-bench)
    72%

    scripting single-file apps or clearly defined functions

    Reasoning (gpqa-diamond)
    78.8%

    graduate-level science QA

    Cost & Context

    Cost (per 1M tokens)
    Self HostLocal execution (zero API fees)
    Context Window
    262.14k tokens
    Read our data collection methodology

    Frequently Asked Questions about Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Gemma 4 12B

    Both Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and Gemma 4 12B score identically at 72% on live-code-bench (scripting single-file apps or clearly defined functions).

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