Model Comparison

Gemma 2 9B vs Grok-2Which is better in 2026?

Grok-2 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemma 2 9B vs Grok-2 — which is better?

Gemma 2 9B (by Google) and Grok-2 (by xAI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Gemma 2 9B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-2 is better at 3 benchmarks (HumanEval, MATH, MMLU). Grok-2 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Gemma 2 9B if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Grok-2 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Gemma 2 9B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-2 is better at 3 benchmarks (HumanEval, MATH, MMLU).

Grok-2 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu Jun 11 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok-2 specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Grok-2 specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

Google
Gemma 2 9B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
xAI
Grok-2
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Thu Jun 11 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-2 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Gemma 2 9B does not.

Grok-2 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemma 2 9B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok-2

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemma 2 9B is licensed under Gemma, while Grok-2 uses a proprietary license.

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

Gemma 2 9B

Gemma

Open weights

Grok-2

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 2 9B was released on 2024-06-27, while Grok-2 was released on 2024-08-13.

Grok-2 is 2 months newer than Gemma 2 9B.

Gemma 2 9B

Jun 27, 2024

2.0 years ago

Grok-2

Aug 13, 2024

1.8 years ago

1mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google
Has open weights
xAI
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher HumanEval score (88.4% vs 40.2%)
Higher MATH score (76.1% vs 36.6%)
Higher MMLU score (87.5% vs 71.3%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 2 9B
xAI
Grok-2

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 2 9B vs Grok-2.

Which is better, Gemma 2 9B or Grok-2?

Grok-2 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Gemma 2 9B is made by Google and Grok-2 is made by xAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemma 2 9B compare to Grok-2 in benchmarks?

Gemma 2 9B scores ARC-E: 88.0%, BoolQ: 84.2%, HellaSwag: 81.9%, PIQA: 81.7%, Winogrande: 80.6%. Grok-2 scores DocVQA: 93.6%, HumanEval: 88.4%, MMLU: 87.5%, MATH: 76.1%, MMLU-Pro: 75.5%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 2 9B and Grok-2?

Gemma 2 9B supports an unknown number of tokens and Grok-2 supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemma 2 9B and Grok-2?

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

Who makes Gemma 2 9B and Grok-2?

Gemma 2 9B is developed by Google and Grok-2 is developed by xAI.

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