Noometry

Model comparison

Gemma 3 4B vs Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 28.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 4B costs 3.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.5 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.

Gemma 3 4B Google

28.1

Rank #326 Confirmed

Step 3.5 Flash StepFun

42.3

Rank #116 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 4B scores higher in 0 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in knowledge, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 39.6 to 11.8.
  • Gemma 3 4B is cheaper at $0.04 / $0.08 per million input/output tokens, against $0.10 / $0.30 for Step 3.5 Flash.
  • Step 3.5 Flash accepts more context: 256K tokens versus 131K.

Side by side

Gemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
ProviderGoogleStepFun
Noometry Index28.142.3
Released2025-03-122026-01-29
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window131K256K
Max output4K256K
Input $ / M tokens$0.04$0.10
Output $ / M tokens$0.08$0.30
Results tracked2219

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Category by category

Coding Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemma 3 4B: 35.9 (#215), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Coding12301436

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Gemma 3 4B: 20.9 (#142), Step 3.5 Flash: —

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard19.6%—

Reasoning Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemma 3 4B: 13.2 (#335), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Hard Prompts12531411
Kagi LLM Benchmark25.2%—
NYT Connections (extended)—28.4%
Chess Puzzles0%—
DTBench50.9%—
LMCA2.8%—
Epoch Capabilities Index116.02—

Math Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemma 3 4B: 16.8 (#292), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Math12391408
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions—66.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-20257.5%—

Knowledge Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemma 3 4B: 11.8 (#299), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Expert12231421
GPQA Diamond23.2%—
Vectara Hallucination Rate6.4%—

Multilingual Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemma 3 4B: 42.5 (#194), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Non-English12731385
LMArena German12811405
LMArena Russian12941385
LMArena Chinese—1447
LMArena French—1421
LMArena Japanese—1354
LMArena Korean—1352
LMArena Spanish—1419

Instruction Following Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemma 3 4B: 65.2 (#225), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Instruction Following12391385

Long Context Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemma 3 4B: 38.7 (#194), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Longer Query12731402

Writing & Preference Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemma 3 4B: 42.0 (#239), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

BenchmarkGemma 3 4BStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Text12911403
LMArena Creative Writing12711357
LMArena Multi-Turn12551405
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1068—

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemma 3 4B better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 28.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 4B costs 3.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.5 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 4B or Step 3.5 Flash?

Gemma 3 4B is cheaper. It lists at $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.08 per million output tokens; Step 3.5 Flash lists at $0.10 and $0.30.

Is Gemma 3 4B or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 35.9 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Step 3.5 Flash does, with 256K tokens against 131K.

How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 4B and Step 3.5 Flash share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 4B has 22 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.

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