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Head-to-head comparison

Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct

Gemma 3 12B (Google) and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Gemma 3 12B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#180 vs #183); Gemma 3 12B is 1.9× cheaper per output token ($0.15/1M vs $0.28/1M); Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct offers the longer context window (262K vs 131K tokens); and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Gemma 3 12B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #180 against #183 (20.3 vs 16.9 points).
  • API cost matters — $0.15/1M output tokens against $0.28/1M, about 1.9× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.05/1M against $0.07/1M.

Choose Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct if…

  • you need the longer context window — 262K tokens against 131K.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct ships open weights while Gemma 3 12B is gated access.
  • you want provider choice — 5 listed API providers against 1.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 13.6 against 5.5.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct was listed 31 July 2025, Gemma 3 12B 13 March 2025.

Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Gemma 3 12B and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
FieldGemma 3 12BGoogleQwen3 Coder 30B A3B InstructQwen
ModelCap Index position#180#183
Index score20.316.9
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.05$0.07
Output price / 1M tokens$0.15$0.28
Context window131K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens16K262K
API providers listed15
Weight accessGated accessOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, ImageText
First listed13 March 202531 July 2025
PublisherGoogleQwen

Evidence: 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct

Public benchmark boards where Gemma 3 12B or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct has a published result
BoardGemma 3 12BQwen3 Coder 30B A3B InstructLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13161293–1340—Only one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)30.4Prompt—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis5.5intelligence-index13.6intelligence-indexQwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct: common questions

Is Gemma 3 12B better than Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

Gemma 3 12B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #180 against #183. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Gemma 3 12B cheaper than Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

Gemma 3 12B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.15/1M against $0.28/1M. Input tokens are $0.05/1M for Gemma 3 12B and $0.07/1M for Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemma 3 12B or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct has the larger context window: 262K tokens against 131K.

Which is better for coding, Gemma 3 12B or Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Gemma 3 12B and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct open-weight models?

Gemma 3 12B: Gated access. Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Gemma 3 12B and Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Gemma 3 12B and 5 for Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Gemma 3 12B vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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