Gemma 4 (Google)
A Tier · 8.3/10
Google DeepMind's open-weights model family -- multimodal, 256K context, runs on edge devices
Score Breakdown
The Good and the Bad
What we like
- +Apache 2.0 license -- truly permissive, you can use it commercially without strings attached
- +Multimodal: handles text + image input (audio on smaller models), generates text output
- +256K token context window -- larger than most open models
- +140+ language support -- one of the strongest multilingual open models available
- +Four sizes (E2B, E4B, 26B MoE, 31B Dense) cover edge devices to data centers
- +31B Dense scores 89% on AIME 2026 and 84% on GPQA Diamond -- competitive with frontier closed models
- +26B MoE activates only 3.8B params during inference for fast tokens-per-second
What could be better
- −Requires technical setup unless you use a hosted API provider
- −Quality still trails the very best closed models (GPT-5.4 Pro, Claude Mythos 5, Gemini 3.1 Ultra) on hardest reasoning tasks
- −No native chat UI from Google -- you're either coding against an API or using a third-party frontend
- −Smaller community than Llama -- fewer fine-tunes and tooling integrations exist
Pricing
Self-hosted
- ✓Apache 2.0 license
- ✓Free download from Hugging Face/Kaggle/Ollama
- ✓Run on your own hardware
API (OpenRouter, Gemma 4 31B)
- ✓Hosted inference
- ✓$0.14 input / $0.40 output
- ✓No infrastructure setup
Google AI Studio
- ✓Free tier for testing
- ✓Web playground access
Known Issues
- Gemma 4 launched April 2, 2026 with improved licensing -- earlier Gemma versions had restrictive use clauses that confused developersSource: The Register, Hugging Face · 2026-04
- Function calling support is new -- some users report inconsistent tool-use behavior compared to Llama 3 or MistralSource: Hugging Face discussions · 2026-04
Best for
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.
Not for
Non-technical users who just want to chat with an AI -- there's no consumer-facing app. Use Gemini if you want a polished chat experience.
Our Verdict
Gemma 4 is Google's answer to the open-weights race against Meta's Llama and the wave of strong Chinese open models. The Apache 2.0 license is a big deal -- it removes the legal friction that made earlier Gemma adoption awkward. The 31B Dense model is genuinely competitive with frontier closed models on benchmarks while costing $0.14/M input via API. If you're building a product on open-weights LLMs and you need multimodal + multilingual + permissive licensing, Gemma 4 is now a top choice.
Sources
- Google DeepMind Gemma 4 page (accessed 2026-04-08)
- Google blog: Gemma 4 launch (accessed 2026-04-08)
- Artificial Analysis benchmarks (accessed 2026-04-08)
- OpenRouter pricing (accessed 2026-04-08)
- The Register coverage (accessed 2026-04-08)
Alternatives to Gemma 4 (Google)
Claude (Anthropic)
Anthropic's flagship LLM -- strong reasoning, long context, and the most natural conversational style
Gemini (Google)
Google's LLM with deep Google Workspace integration and a massive 1M+ token context window
Llama 3 (Meta)
Meta's open-source LLM -- run it locally for free with zero data sharing
Mistral AI
European AI lab with open and commercial models that punch well above their size
DeepSeek
Near-frontier reasoning for pennies on the dollar -- the open-source LLM that made Silicon Valley nervous
Grok
xAI's irreverent chatbot with a direct line to X/Twitter -- real-time data meets unfiltered personality