Google has launched a newer model, Gemma 4 E4B, we suggest considering this model instead.
For more information, see Comparison of Gemma 4 E4B to other models and API provider benchmarks for Gemma 4 E4B.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct Intelligence, Performance & Price Analysis
Model summary
Intelligence
Speed
Input Price
USD per 1M tokens
Output Price
Verbosity
Gemma 3 4B Instruct is below average in intelligence and particularly expensive when comparing to other open weight non-reasoning models of similar size. It's also notably slow, however fairly concise. The model supports text and image input, outputs text, and has a 128k tokens context window.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct scores 6 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it below average among comparable models (averaging 8). When evaluating the Intelligence Index, it generated 3.8M tokens, which is fairly concise in comparison to the average of 5.6M.
Pricing for Gemma 3 4B Instruct is $0.04 per 1M input tokens (expensive, average: $0.00) and $0.08 per 1M output tokens (expensive, average: $0.00). In total, it cost $6.52 to evaluate Gemma 3 4B Instruct on the Intelligence Index.
At 29 tokens per second, Gemma 3 4B Instruct is notably slow (97).
| Reasoning | No This page shows the non-reasoning version of this model. A reasoning variant may also exist. |
|---|---|
| Input modality | Supports: text, image |
| Output modality | Supports: text |
| Context window | 128k ~192 A4 pages of size 12 Arial font |
| Total parameters | 4.3B |
| License | Gemma license |
| Model weights | Hugging Face |
Metrics are compared against models of the same class:
- Non-reasoning models → compared only with other non-reasoning models
- Reasoning models → compared across both reasoning and non-reasoning
- Open weights models → compared only with other open weights models of the same size class:
- Tiny: ≤4B parameters
- Small: 4B–40B parameters
- Medium: 40B–150B parameters
- Large: >150B parameters
- Proprietary models → compared across proprietary and open weights models of the same price range, using a blended 3:1 input/output price ratio:
- <$0.15 per 1M tokens
- $0.15–$1 per 1M tokens
- >$1 per 1M tokens
Highlights
Intelligence
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index by Open Weights / Proprietary
Intelligence Evaluations
Openness
Artificial Analysis Openness Index: Results
Intelligence Index Comparisons
Intelligence vs. Price
Intelligence Index Token Use & Cost
Output Tokens Used to Run Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Cost to Run Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Context Window
Context Window
Pricing
Pricing now includes a “Cache Hit Price” alongside Input and Output pricing, with new blend ratios.
Pricing: Cache Hit, Input, and Output
Speed
Measured by Output Speed (tokens per second)
Output Speed
Output Speed vs. Price
Latency
Measured by Time (seconds) to First Token
Latency: Time To First Answer Token
End-to-End Response Time
Seconds to output 500 tokens, calculated based on time to first token, 'thinking' time for reasoning models, and output speed
End-to-End Response Time
Model Size (Open Weights Models Only)
Model Size: Total and Active Parameters
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Gemma 3 4B Instruct
Gemma 3 4B Instruct was released on March 12, 2025.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct was created by Google.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct scores 6 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it below average among other open weight non-reasoning models of similar size (median: 8).
Gemma 3 4B Instruct generates output at 29.3 tokens per second (based on Google's API), which is at the lower end compared to other open weight non-reasoning models of similar size (median: 96.6 t/s).
Gemma 3 4B Instruct has a time to first token (TTFT) of 1.67s (based on Google's API), which is somewhat higher than average compared to other open weight non-reasoning models of similar size (median: 0.93s).
Gemma 3 4B Instruct costs $0.04 per 1M input tokens (very competitive, median: $0.10) and $0.08 per 1M output tokens (very competitive, median: $0.10), based on Google's API.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct costs $0.04 per 1M input tokens and $0.08 per 1M output tokens (based on Google's API). For a blended rate (3:1 input to output ratio), this is $0.05 per 1M tokens. Pricing may vary by provider. Compare provider pricing
When evaluated on the Intelligence Index, Gemma 3 4B Instruct generated 3.8M output tokens, which is better than average compared to other open weight non-reasoning models of similar size (median: 5.6M).
No, Gemma 3 4B Instruct is not a reasoning model. It provides direct responses without extended chain-of-thought reasoning.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct supports text and image input.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct supports text output.
Yes, Gemma 3 4B Instruct supports image input and can analyze, describe, and answer questions about images.
Yes, Gemma 3 4B Instruct is multimodal. It can process text and image input and generate text output.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct has a context window of 130k tokens. This determines how much text and conversation history the model can process in a single request.
Yes, Gemma 3 4B Instruct is open weights. The model weights are publicly available and can be downloaded for self-hosting.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct has 4.3 billion parameters.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct is released under the Gemma license license. This license allows commercial use. View license
Gemma 3 4B Instruct achieves a score of 6 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. This composite benchmark evaluates models across reasoning, knowledge, mathematics, and coding.
Gemma 3 4B Instruct is an open weights model that can be self-hosted. View providers
Gemma 3 4B Instruct is an open weights model that can be downloaded and self-hosted. Compare providers