Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Gemma 3 4B

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while Gemma 3 4B is better at 0 benchmarks.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri May 15 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2.2B diff

Gemma 3 4B has 2.2B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B, making it 124.7% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
1.8Bparameters
Google
Gemma 3 4B
4.0Bparameters
1.8B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
4.0B
Gemma 3 4B

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Gemma 3 4B specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only Gemma 3 4B specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Google
Gemma 3 4B
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Fri May 15 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Gemma 3 4B supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B does not.

Gemma 3 4B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemma 3 4B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is licensed under MIT, while Gemma 3 4B uses Gemma.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

MIT

Open weights

Gemma 3 4B

Gemma

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B was released on 2025-01-20, while Gemma 3 4B was released on 2025-03-12.

Gemma 3 4B is 2 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

Jan 20, 2025

1.3 years ago

Gemma 3 4B

Mar 12, 2025

1.2 years ago

1mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemma 3 4B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-08-01, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemma 3 4B's training data extends to 2024-08-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B's cutoff date.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B

—

Gemma 3 4B

Aug 2024

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

DeepSeek
Higher GPQA score (33.8% vs 30.8%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (16.9% vs 12.6%)
Google
Larger context window (131,072 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
Google
Gemma 3 4B

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Gemma 3 4B.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B or Gemma 3 4B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is made by DeepSeek and Gemma 3 4B is made by Google. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B compare to Gemma 3 4B in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B scores MATH-500: 83.9%, AIME 2024: 52.7%, GPQA: 33.8%, LiveCodeBench: 16.9%. Gemma 3 4B scores IFEval: 90.2%, GSM8k: 89.2%, DocVQA: 75.8%, MATH: 75.6%, AI2D: 74.8%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 3 4B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B supports an unknown number of tokens and Gemma 3 4B supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 3 4B?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Gemma). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Gemma 3 4B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is developed by DeepSeek and Gemma 3 4B is developed by Google.