Google: Gemma 3 12B (free)
Analysis Summary
Gemma 3 12B (free) is the mid-size open-weight model in Google's Gemma 3 family, available without charge. It supports vision alongside text and posts an intelligence index of 8.8, MMLU-Pro of 0.595, and GPQA of 0.349. These figures are reasonable for a free model but leave it well short of commercial alternatives. The 32K context window is a meaningful constraint for document-heavy workflows.
For businesses, the free access makes it attractive for prototyping and low-stakes content tasks. Coding (6.3) and agentic (5.8) scores are limited, so it is not a fit for software engineering or autonomous workflows. Instruction-following at IFBench 0.367 is slightly better than the 4B variant, and vision support adds flexibility for image-aware tasks.
This model suits teams exploring multimodal capabilities on a zero-cost basis. For production use requiring reliable reasoning, larger context, or coding support, the paid 12B or 27B variants, or a commercial alternative, would be more appropriate.
Assessed June 6, 2026
Editorial notes
Gemma 3 12B free tier offers vision support and a multimodal interface at no cost, with moderate general knowledge benchmarks, but limited coding and agentic capability and a small 32K context window.
Rankings consider pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, and real-world applicability and are refreshed as new models launch. Feedback?
Performance Profile
How Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) compares
Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) ranks #334 of 378 AI models we track for overall intelligence, #269 of 315 for coding, #279 of 289 for agentic tasks. Its 33K-token context window is larger than 32% of the models we list. Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) is currently free to use via OpenRouter.
About Google: Gemma 3 12B (free)
Gemma 3 introduces multimodality, supporting vision-language input and text outputs. It handles context windows up to 128k tokens, understands over 140 languages, and offers improved math, reasoning, and chat capabilities,..
Capabilities
Architecture Detail
| Instruct Type | gemma |
Performance Indices
Source: Artificial Analysis
Benchmark Scores
Intelligence
Technical
Content
Benchmark data from Artificial Analysis and Hugging Face
How does Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) stack up?
Compare side-by-side with other professional models.
Model Information
| OpenRouter ID |
google/gemma-3-12b-it:free
|
| Provider | |
| Release Date | March 13, 2025 |
| Context Length | 32,768 tokens |
| Max Completion | 8,192 tokens |
| Status | Active |
External Resources
Frequently asked questions about Google: Gemma 3 12B (free)
How much does Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) cost?
Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) is currently available for free via OpenRouter.
What is the context window of Google: Gemma 3 12B (free)?
Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) has a context window of 32,768 tokens (33K).
Is Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) good for coding?
On our coding benchmark index, Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) ranks #269 of 315 models, placing it in the broader range of the field for code generation and debugging.
What can Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) do?
Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) supports image/vision input.
Who created Google: Gemma 3 12B (free)?
Google: Gemma 3 12B (free) is developed by Google and was released on March 13, 2025.
