Model Comparison

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed vs Phi 4 MiniWhich is better in 2026?

Phi 4 Mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemma 3n E4B Instructed vs Phi 4 Mini — which is better?

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed (by Google) and Phi 4 Mini (by Microsoft) 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 3n E4B Instructed outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MGSM), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Phi 4 Mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose Gemma 3n E4B Instructed if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025

Choose Phi 4 Mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MGSM), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).

Phi 4 Mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

4.2B diff

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed has 4.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 108.3% larger.

Google
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed
8.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
3.8Bparameters
8.0B
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed
3.8B
Phi 4 Mini

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Gemma 3n E4B Instructed specifies input context (32,000 tokens). Only Gemma 3n E4B Instructed specifies output context (32,000 tokens).

Google
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed
Input32,000 tokens
Output32,000 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Mini does not.

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi 4 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed is licensed under a proprietary license, while Phi 4 Mini uses MIT.

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

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Proprietary

Closed source

Phi 4 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed was released on 2025-06-26, while Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01.

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed is 5 months newer than Phi 4 Mini.

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Jun 26, 2025

1.1 years ago

4mo newer
Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.5 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Both models have the same knowledge cutoff date of 2024-06-01.

They should have similar awareness of historical events and information up to this date.

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Jun 2024

Phi 4 Mini

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google
Larger context window (32,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher MGSM score (67.0% vs 63.9%)
Microsoft
Has open weights
Higher GPQA score (25.2% vs 23.7%)
Higher MMLU score (67.3% vs 64.9%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (52.8% vs 50.6%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemma 3n E4B Instructed and Phi 4 Mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed
✓ Preferred
Phi 4 Mini
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 3n E4B Instructed vs Phi 4 Mini.

Which is better, Gemma 3n E4B Instructed or Phi 4 Mini?

Phi 4 Mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Gemma 3n E4B Instructed is made by Google and Phi 4 Mini is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemma 3n E4B Instructed compare to Phi 4 Mini in benchmarks?

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed scores HumanEval: 75.0%, MGSM: 67.0%, MMLU: 64.9%, Global-MMLU-Lite: 64.5%, MBPP: 63.6%. Phi 4 Mini scores GSM8k: 88.6%, ARC-C: 83.7%, BoolQ: 81.2%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%, PIQA: 77.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 3n E4B Instructed and Phi 4 Mini?

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed supports 32K tokens and Phi 4 Mini supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemma 3n E4B Instructed and Phi 4 Mini?

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

Who makes Gemma 3n E4B Instructed and Phi 4 Mini?

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed is developed by Google and Phi 4 Mini is developed by Microsoft.

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