Gemma 2 2B IT vs Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct vs Hermes 3 405B Instruct
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct comes out ahead, 25 to 10 and 0 on our weighted score.
GoogleGemma 2 2B IT
0/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context8K
- Our pick
NVIDIANemotron Mini 4B Instruct
25/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context128K
Nous ResearchHermes 3 405B Instruct
10/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context131K
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct is our pick
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 25/100 against Hermes 3 405B Instruct (10) and Gemma 2 2B IT (0). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceHermes 3 405B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Gemma 2 2B IT and Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct unpriced
- Longest contextHermes 3 405B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct 131,072 · Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct 128,000 · Gemma 2 2B IT 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsGemma 2 2B IT: Text · Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct: Text · Hermes 3 405B Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Gemma 2 2B IT | Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct | Hermes 3 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Context window | 40% | 0 | 24 | 25 |
| Overall | 100% | 0/100 | 25/100 | 10/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemma 2 2B ITGoogle | Nemotron Mini 4B InstructNVIDIA | Hermes 3 405B InstructNous Research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | — | — | $1.00 |
| Output | — | — | $1.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | — | — | $1.00 |
| Long-context rate | — | — | Same rate |
| Price source | — | — | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 8,192 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 16,384 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenGemma Terms of Use | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | — | — | 5 |
| Released | Jul 31, 2024 | Aug 21, 2024 | Aug 16, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | Dec 31, 2023 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemma 2 2B IT—
- Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct—
- Hermes 3 405B Instruct$12.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemma 2 2B IT, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct or Hermes 3 405B Instruct?
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 25/100 against Hermes 3 405B Instruct (10) and Gemma 2 2B IT (0). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 2B IT, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct or Hermes 3 405B Instruct?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct is cheaper at $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). . At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.00 per million tokens for Hermes 3 405B Instruct versus . Gemma 2 2B IT and Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemma 2 2B IT has not been scored yet, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct has not been scored yet and Hermes 3 405B Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 2 2B IT, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct and Hermes 3 405B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Gemma 2 2B IT and Hermes 3 405B Instruct does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct and 8,192 for Gemma 2 2B IT. Maximum output per response: Gemma 2 2B IT up to 8,192, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct up to 8,192, Hermes 3 405B Instruct up to 16,384 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemma 2 2B IT accepts text; Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct accepts text; Hermes 3 405B Instruct accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (Gemma Terms of Use), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct is the newest, released Aug 21, 2024. Hermes 3 405B Instruct came out Aug 16, 2024; Gemma 2 2B IT came out Jul 31, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 3 405B Instruct Dec 31, 2023.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
