Gemma 3 12B vs Gemma 4 26B
Comparing VRAM requirements, performance, and capabilities for running these models locally with Ollama.
Parameters
12B
Context
128K
VRAM Range
10.5–28 GB
Recommended
Q4_K_M (10.5 GB)
ByGoogle·LicenseGemma Terms of Use
Parameters
26B
Context
256K
VRAM Range
20–30 GB
Recommended
Q4_K_M (20 GB)
ByGoogle·LicenseApache 2.0
VRAM Requirements by Quantization
Side-by-side memory needs at each quality level.
| Quantization | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 10.5 GB | 20 GB | -9.5 GB |
| Q8_0 | 16 GB | 30 GB | -14.0 GB |
| F16 | 28 GB | — | — |
Capabilities
Feature support comparison.
| Capability | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B |
|---|---|---|
| text generation | Yes | Yes |
| code generation | Yes | Yes |
| reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| multilingual | Yes | Yes |
| vision | Yes | Yes |
| math | Yes | Yes |
| summarization | Yes | — |
| tool use | — | Yes |
Benchmark Scores
Higher is better. Scores from published evaluations.
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B |
|---|---|---|
| mmlu | 76.0 | — |
| aime2026 | — | 88.3 |
| livecodebench | — | 77.1 |
Hardware Compatibility
Can each model run at recommended quantization on common VRAM tiers?
| VRAM | Gemma 3 12B | Gemma 4 26B |
|---|---|---|
| 8 GB | Offload | No |
| 12 GB | Tight | No |
| 16 GB | Runs | Offload |
| 24 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 32 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 48 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 64 GB | Runs | Runs |
| 96 GB | Runs | Runs |
Run Gemma 3 12B
ollama run gemma3:12b-it-q4_K_MRun Gemma 4 26B
ollama run gemma4:26b-a4b-it-q4_K_MCheck your exact hardware
Use the compatibility checker to see how each model performs on your specific GPU or Mac.