GoogleGemma 4 12BVSOpenAIGPT-5 mini
Our Take
We recommend GPT-5 mini 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 GPT-5 mini offers superior reasoning capability, Gemma 4 12B runs entirely on your own local hardware. Choose GPT-5 mini 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. GPT-5 mini scored 81.6%, while Gemma 4 12B scored 78.8% (+2.8% gap).
Coding Performance: Evaluated on different benchmarks. Gemma 4 12B scored 72% on LiveCodeBench (scripting single-file apps or clearly defined functions), while GPT-5 mini scored 45.7% on SWE-bench Pro (complex codebases, multi-file repositories, and architectural planning).
Context Window: GPT-5 mini supports a 400k context window, while Gemma 4 12B supports 262k.
Hosting Model: Gemma 4 12B runs locally for $0 API costs, while GPT-5 mini is a cloud API.
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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 tokensBenchmarks & Scores
Coding (swe-bench-pro)
45.7%complex codebases, multi-file repositories, and architectural planning
Reasoning (gpqa-diamond)Winner (+2.8%)
81.6%graduate-level science QA
Cost & Context
Cost (per 1M tokens)
$0.69Input: $0.25 | Output: $2.00Context WindowLarger
400k tokensFrequently Asked Questions about Gemma 4 12B vs GPT-5 mini
For coding tasks, Gemma 4 12B scores 72% on live-code-bench (scripting single-file apps or clearly defined functions), while GPT-5 mini scores 45.7% on swe-bench-pro (complex codebases, multi-file repositories, and architectural planning).
Related Matchups
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