Model comparison
Gemma 3 4B vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview
Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 51.1 to 27.9 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 4B costs 58× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.6 Max Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
Google
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 4B scores higher in 0 categories and Qwen3.6 Max Preview in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads 57.6 to 11.8.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 7.5% for Gemma 3 4B and 91.1% for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
- Gemma 3 4B is cheaper at $0.04 / $0.08 per million input/output tokens, against $1.30 / $7.80 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 131K.
- Gemma 3 4B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | |
| Noometry Index | 27.9 | 51.1 |
| Released | 2025-03-12 | 2026-04-20 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 131K | 262K |
| Max output | 4K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.04 | $1.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.08 | $7.80 |
| Results tracked | 22 | 29 |
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Category by category
Coding Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Gemma 3 4B: 35.3 (#214), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 48.6 (#50)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1230 | 1472 |
| SWE-bench Verified | — | 76.7% |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1482 |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Gemma 3 4B: 20.7 (#134), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 19.6% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 4,254 |
Reasoning Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Gemma 3 4B: 12.7 (#330), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 40.8 (#47)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | 20% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1253 | 1457 |
| DTBench | 50.9% | 87.2% |
| LMCA | 2.8% | 42.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 116.02 | 149.27 |
| SimpleBench | — | 63% |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 25.2% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 74.1% |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 19% |
Math Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Gemma 3 4B: 15.8 (#286), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 52.2 (#40)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 7.5% | 91.1% |
| LMArena Math | 1239 | 1465 |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 23.1% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | — | 4.2% |
Knowledge Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Gemma 3 4B: 11.8 (#294), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 57.6 (#35)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 23.2% | 87.4% |
| LMArena Expert | 1223 | 1476 |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 52% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 6.4% | — |
Multilingual Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Gemma 3 4B: 42.7 (#189), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 54.3 (#46)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1273 | 1436 |
| LMArena Russian | 1294 | 1444 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1487 |
| LMArena French | — | 1449 |
| LMArena German | 1281 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1452 |
Instruction Following Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Gemma 3 4B: 65.4 (#219), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 75.8 (#51)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1239 | 1437 |
Long Context Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Gemma 3 4B: 38.6 (#189), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 44.6 (#59)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1274 | 1457 |
Writing & Preference Qwen3.6 Max Preview leads
Gemma 3 4B: 42.2 (#234), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 64.0 (#58)
| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1291 | 1447 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1270 | 1435 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1255 | 1456 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1068 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 3 4B better than Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 51.1 to 27.9 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 4B costs 58× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.6 Max Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 4B or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
Gemma 3 4B is cheaper. It lists at $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.08 per million output tokens; Qwen3.6 Max Preview lists at $1.30 and $7.80.
Is Gemma 3 4B or Qwen3.6 Max Preview better for coding?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 48.6 versus 35.3 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.6 Max Preview does, with 262K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 4B and Qwen3.6 Max Preview share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 4B has 22 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.6 Max Preview has 29.