Model Comparison

Gemma 3 1B vs Gemma 3 4BWhich is better in 2026?

Gemma 3 4B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemma 3 1B vs Gemma 3 4B — which is better?

Gemma 3 1B (by Google) and Gemma 3 4B (by Google) 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 3 1B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Gemma 3 4B is better at 18 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Extra Hard, BIG-Bench Hard, Bird-SQL (dev), ECLeKTic, FACTS Grounding, Global-MMLU-Lite, GPQA, GSM8k, HiddenMath, HumanEval, IFEval, LiveCodeBench, MATH, MBPP, MMLU-Pro, Natural2Code, SimpleQA, WMT24++). Gemma 3 4B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Gemma 3 1B if…

  • you are already invested in the Google ecosystem

Choose Gemma 3 4B if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 18 of 18 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

18 benchmarks

Gemma 3 1B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Gemma 3 4B is better at 18 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Extra Hard, BIG-Bench Hard, Bird-SQL (dev), ECLeKTic, FACTS Grounding, Global-MMLU-Lite, GPQA, GSM8k, HiddenMath, HumanEval, IFEval, LiveCodeBench, MATH, MBPP, MMLU-Pro, Natural2Code, SimpleQA, WMT24++).

Gemma 3 4B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

3.0B diff

Gemma 3 4B has 3.0B more parameters than Gemma 3 1B, making it 300.0% larger.

Google
Gemma 3 1B
1.0Bparameters
Google
Gemma 3 4B
4.0Bparameters
1.0B
Gemma 3 1B
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).

Google
Gemma 3 1B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Google
Gemma 3 4B
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Gemma 3 4B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Gemma 3 1B does not.

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

Gemma 3 1B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemma 3 4B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Gemma.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Gemma 3 1B

Gemma

Open weights

Gemma 3 4B

Gemma

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Both models were released on 2025-03-12.

They likely represent similar generations of model development.

Gemma 3 1B

Mar 12, 2025

1.4 years ago

Gemma 3 4B

Mar 12, 2025

1.4 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemma 3 4B has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-08-01, while Gemma 3 1B'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 Gemma 3 1B's cutoff date.

Gemma 3 1B

—

Gemma 3 4B

Aug 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Google
Larger context window (131,072 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher BIG-Bench Extra Hard score (11.0% vs 7.2%)
Higher BIG-Bench Hard score (72.2% vs 39.1%)
Higher Bird-SQL (dev) score (36.3% vs 6.4%)
Higher ECLeKTic score (4.6% vs 1.4%)
Higher FACTS Grounding score (70.1% vs 36.4%)
Higher Global-MMLU-Lite score (54.5% vs 34.2%)
Higher GPQA score (30.8% vs 19.2%)
Higher GSM8k score (89.2% vs 62.8%)
Higher HiddenMath score (43.0% vs 15.8%)
Higher HumanEval score (71.3% vs 41.5%)
Higher IFEval score (90.2% vs 80.2%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (12.6% vs 1.9%)
Higher MATH score (75.6% vs 48.0%)
Higher MBPP score (63.2% vs 35.2%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (43.6% vs 14.7%)
Higher Natural2Code score (70.3% vs 56.0%)
Higher SimpleQA score (4.0% vs 2.2%)
Higher WMT24++ score (46.8% vs 35.9%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemma 3 1B and Gemma 3 4B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemma 3 1B
✓ Preferred
Gemma 3 4B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 3 1B
Google
Gemma 3 4B

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 3 1B vs Gemma 3 4B.

Which is better, Gemma 3 1B or Gemma 3 4B?

Gemma 3 4B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Gemma 3 1B is made by Google 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 Gemma 3 1B compare to Gemma 3 4B in benchmarks?

Gemma 3 1B scores IFEval: 80.2%, GSM8k: 62.8%, Natural2Code: 56.0%, MATH: 48.0%, HumanEval: 41.5%. 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 Gemma 3 1B and Gemma 3 4B?

Gemma 3 1B 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 Gemma 3 1B and Gemma 3 4B?

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

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