Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 or Gemma 3 4B IT?

At BF16, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 needs 25.4 GB and Gemma 3 4B IT needs 9.5 GB, so Gemma 3 4B IT is the lighter option to run locally.

What is the difference between Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 and Gemma 3 4B IT?

Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 is a 12.2B model from DreamFast (Gemma family), while Gemma 3 4B IT is a 4.3B model from Google (Gemma family). Compare their VRAM requirements above to see which fits your GPU or Mac.

Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 vs Gemma 3 4B IT

Side-by-side comparison of VRAM requirements, quantization, context length, and hardware compatibility.

Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2

DreamFast · 12.2B

Chat

Gemma 3 4B IT

Google · 4.3B

Vision

Specifications

	Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2	Gemma 3 4B IT
Parameters	12.2B	4.3B
Context	131K	—
Architecture	Gemma3ForConditionalGeneration	—
License	Gemma Terms	Gemma Terms
Downloads	8.6K	1.8M
Released	Mar 2026	—

VRAM by Quantization: Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 vs Gemma 3 4B IT

Quantization	Bits	Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 VRAM	Gemma 3 4B IT VRAM
BF16	16.00	25.4 GB	9.5 GB

Verdict

Gemma 3 4B IT needs less VRAM at BF16 (9.5 GB vs 25.4 GB), so it fits on smaller GPUs. Gemma 3 4B IT is the more widely downloaded of the two.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 or Gemma 3 4B IT?: At BF16, Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 needs 25.4 GB and Gemma 3 4B IT needs 9.5 GB, so Gemma 3 4B IT is the lighter option to run locally.
What is the difference between Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 and Gemma 3 4B IT?: Gemma 3 12B IT Heretic v2 is a 12.2B model from DreamFast (Gemma family), while Gemma 3 4B IT is a 4.3B model from Google (Gemma family). Compare their VRAM requirements above to see which fits your GPU or Mac.