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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct vs Gemma 3 4B IT

Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemma 3 4B IT 52, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

    Released Sep 19, 2024

    50/100
    • ECI118.5
    • Price$0.05 / $0.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

  2. Google

    Gemma 3 4B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI115.8
    • Price$0.05 / $0.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 4B IT

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Gemma 3 4B IT 52/100, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen2.5 7B Instruct for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen2.5 7B InstructCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 118.5 · Gemma 3 4B IT 115.8
  • Lowest priceSame priceQwen2.5 7B Instruct $0.063 · Gemma 3 4B IT $0.063 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen2.5 7B Instruct 131,072 · Gemma 3 4B IT 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemma 3 4B ITQwen2.5 7B Instruct: Text · Gemma 3 4B IT: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen2.5 7B InstructGemma 3 4B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3834
Price25%100100
Inputs & features15%2550
Context window10%2525
Overall100%50/10052/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct vs Gemma 3 4B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)118.5 (best)115.8
ECI rank#159 of 165 (best)#163 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions35.5% (best)23.2%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics2.5%7.5% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05$0.05
Output$0.10$0.10
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.063$0.063
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0Open
API model ID——
API providers410 (best)
ReleasedSep 19, 2024Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Aug 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Qwen2.5 7B Instruct$0.70
  • Gemma 3 4B IT$0.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen2.5 7B Instruct or Gemma 3 4B IT?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Gemma 3 4B IT 52/100, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen2.5 7B Instruct for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct or Gemma 3 4B IT?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct and Gemma 3 4B IT cost the same: $0.05 input / $0.10 output per million tokens.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 118.5 (#159 of 165) and Gemma 3 4B IT 115.8 (#163 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (110.6–121.2 vs 97.9–123.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 35.5%, Gemma 3 4B IT 23.2%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemma 3 4B IT 7.5%, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 2.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct and Gemma 3 4B IT yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct and Gemma 3 4B IT share the same 131,072-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen2.5 7B Instruct up to 8,192, Gemma 3 4B IT up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct accepts text; Gemma 3 4B IT accepts text and images. Gemma 3 4B IT handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Gemma 3 4B IT is the newest, released Mar 12, 2025. Qwen2.5 7B Instruct came out Sep 19, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 4B IT Aug 2024.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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