Gemma 3n E4B Instructed vs Phi 4 Mini
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed and Phi 4 Mini are closely matched at -4.5 and -4.1 on the LLM Stats Score.
Google · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed and Phi 4 Mini are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -4.5 and -4.1.
In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Phi 4 Mini wins 3; 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 3n E4B Instructed
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025
Choose Phi 4 Mini
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 4 exact shared results
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
18 reported for Gemma 3n E4B Instructed · 17 for Phi 4 Mini
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.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed has 4.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 108.3% larger.
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).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
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
Phi 4 Mini
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.
Proprietary
Closed source
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.
Jun 26, 2025
1.2 years ago
4mo newerFeb 1, 2025
1.6 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.
Jun 2024
Jun 2024
Outputs Comparison
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.
FAQ
Common questions about Gemma 3n E4B Instructed vs Phi 4 Mini.