Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning) | Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $0.14 | $0.1 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $0.28 | $0.3 |
Verdict. Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) takes the aggregate benchmark matchup 5–2 across 7 categories. Real workloads usually care about a handful of specific tasks — see the per-benchmark table above.
Pricing. Both models sit in the budget bracket for output-token pricing. At 0.9× the per-million-token cost, DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning) is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning) makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning) is strongest on GPQA Diamond (72%), IFBench (47%), SciCode (37%). Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) leads on GPQA Diamond (75%), IFBench (74%), SciCode (38%).
Speed. Throughput is comparable — 113 tok/s vs 135 tok/s — so generation speed shouldn't drive your choice here. Look at the per-benchmark wins instead.
Provider. DeepSeek and Google sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: DeepSeek tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while Google often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning) costs $8.40 ($101/year); Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) costs $7.50 ($90/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning) ≈ $1.26/run, Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) ≈ $1.10/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning) ≈ $56/run, Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) ≈ $50/run. Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) becomes more attractive at higher volume — the absolute per-token pricing difference compounds when you ship at scale.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $0.15/M tokens vs $0.17/M for DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning).
Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) wins 5 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 2 for DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning). See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) generates tokens faster at 135 tok/s vs 113 tok/s. DeepSeek V4 Flash (Non-reasoning) also has lower time-to-first-token (0.99s vs 1.26s).
Choose based on your priorities: Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) for lower cost, Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) for stronger benchmark performance, and Gemma 4 12B (Reasoning) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.