Microsoft MAI-Image-2 vs Gemma 4 (Google)
Which one should you pick? Here's the full breakdown.
Microsoft MAI-Image-2
Microsoft's first in-house diffusion image model -- launched 2026-04-02, debuted #3 on Arena.ai leaderboard for image model families. Public preview on Azure Foundry. Powers Copilot, Bing Image Creator, and PowerPoint. Efficient variant (MAI-Image-2-Efficient) shipped 2026-04-14
Gemma 4 (Google)
Google DeepMind's open-weights model family -- multimodal, 256K context, runs on edge devices
| Category | Microsoft MAI-Image-2 | Gemma 4 (Google) |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 6.5 | 7.0 |
| Output Quality | 8.5 | 8.0 |
| Value | 7.5 | 10.0 |
| Features | 7.0 | 8.0 |
| Overall | 7.4 | 8.3 |
Pricing Comparison
| Feature | Microsoft MAI-Image-2 | Gemma 4 (Google) |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Starting Price | $5 input / $33 output | $0 |
Benchmark Head-to-Head
Gemma 4 31B benchmarks — Microsoft MAI-Image-2 has no published benchmarks
| Benchmark | Description | Score |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU | Knowledge across 57 subjects | 83% |
| GPQA Diamond | Graduate-level science questions | 84.3% |
| AIME 2026 | 89.2% | |
| HumanEval | Python code generation | 85% |
Which Should You Pick?
Pick Microsoft MAI-Image-2 if...
Microsoft shops already on Azure or M365 Copilot who need a first-party image model without an OpenAI dependency. Also good for any high-volume programmatic image workflow (ad creative, product photography variations) where MAI-Image-2-Efficient's 4x cost efficiency materially changes the economics.
Visit Microsoft MAI-Image-2Pick Gemma 4 (Google) if...
- ✓Better value for money (10/10)
- ✓More features (8 vs 7)
Developers and businesses who need a permissively licensed multimodal LLM they can self-host or fine-tune. Especially good for multilingual use cases and on-device deployment.
Visit Gemma 4 (Google)Our Verdict
Gemma 4 (Google) edges out Microsoft MAI-Image-2 with a 8.3 vs 7.4 overall score. Both are solid picks, but Gemma 4 (Google) has the advantage in value.