Model comparison
Gemma 3 4B vs Phi-4 Mini
Phi-4 Mini is the stronger model overall, scoring 30.9 to 28.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 4B costs 2.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Phi-4 Mini's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 1 shared benchmarks.
Google
MicrosoftSummary
- They share 1 benchmark with published results for both. Gemma 3 4B scores higher in 1 category and Phi-4 Mini in 2 categories; 3 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Phi-4 Mini leads 25.3 to 11.8.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Vectara Hallucination Rate: 6.4% for Gemma 3 4B and 23.5% for Phi-4 Mini.
- Gemma 3 4B is cheaper at $0.04 / $0.08 per million input/output tokens, against $0.075 / $0.30 for Phi-4 Mini.
- Gemma 3 4B accepts more context: 131K tokens versus 128K.
Side by side
| Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Microsoft | |
| Noometry Index | 28.1 | 30.9 |
| Released | 2025-03-12 | 2024-12-11 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 131K | 128K |
| Max output | 4K | 4K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.04 | $0.075 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.08 | $0.30 |
| Results tracked | 22 | 3 |
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Category by category
Coding Gemma 3 4B leads
Gemma 3 4B: 35.9 (#215), Phi-4 Mini: 28.1 (#317)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | — | 10.8% |
| LMArena Coding | 1230 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Gemma 3 4B: 20.9 (#142), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 19.6% | — |
Reasoning Phi-4 Mini leads
Gemma 3 4B: 13.2 (#335), Phi-4 Mini: 22.4 (#195)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 25.2% | — |
| CritPt | — | 0% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1253 | — |
| DTBench | 50.9% | — |
| LMCA | 2.8% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 116.02 | — |
Math Not comparable
Gemma 3 4B: 16.8 (#292), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 7.5% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1239 | — |
Knowledge Phi-4 Mini leads
Gemma 3 4B: 11.8 (#299), Phi-4 Mini: 25.3 (#262)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 6.4% | 23.5% |
| GPQA Diamond | 23.2% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1223 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
Gemma 3 4B: 42.5 (#194), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1273 | — |
| LMArena German | 1281 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1294 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Gemma 3 4B: 65.2 (#225), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1239 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
Gemma 3 4B: 38.7 (#194), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1273 | — |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Gemma 3 4B: 42.0 (#239), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1291 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1271 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1068 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1255 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 3 4B better than Phi-4 Mini?
Phi-4 Mini is the stronger model overall, scoring 30.9 to 28.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 4B costs 2.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Phi-4 Mini's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 4B or Phi-4 Mini?
Gemma 3 4B is cheaper. It lists at $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.08 per million output tokens; Phi-4 Mini lists at $0.075 and $0.30.
Is Gemma 3 4B or Phi-4 Mini better for coding?
Gemma 3 4B scores higher on coding benchmarks: 35.9 versus 28.1 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 3 4B does, with 131K tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 4B and Phi-4 Mini share?
1 benchmark has published results for both models. Gemma 3 4B has 22 scored results on Noometry and Phi-4 Mini has 3.