Gemma 2 9B vs Qwen2 7B Instruct
Gemma 2 9B and Qwen2 7B Instruct are closely matched at -4.8 and -4.3 on the LLM Stats Score.
Google · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Gemma 2 9B and Qwen2 7B Instruct are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -4.8 and -4.3.
In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen2 7B Instruct wins 4; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Gemma 2 9B
- you are already invested in the Google ecosystem
Choose Qwen2 7B Instruct
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 5 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2024
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
16 reported for Gemma 2 9B · 14 for Qwen2 7B Instruct
Gemma 2 9B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU), while Qwen2 7B Instruct is better at 4 benchmarks (GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MBPP).
Qwen2 7B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Gemma 2 9B has 1.6B more parameters than Qwen2 7B Instruct, making it 21.3% larger.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Gemma 2 9B is licensed under Gemma, while Qwen2 7B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Gemma
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Gemma 2 9B was released on 2024-06-27, while Qwen2 7B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.
Qwen2 7B Instruct is 1 month newer than Gemma 2 9B.
Jun 27, 2024
2.2 years ago
Jul 23, 2024
2.1 years ago
3w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Gemma 2 9B and Qwen2 7B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Gemma 2 9B vs Qwen2 7B Instruct.