# Gemma 3 4B vs MiniMax M1

> MiniMax M1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.3 to 28.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 4B costs 19× less per token, which makes it the better buy when MiniMax M1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-3-4b-vs-minimax-m1
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 3 4B scores higher in 0 categories and MiniMax M1 in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where MiniMax M1 leads 36.4 to 11.8.
- Gemma 3 4B is cheaper at $0.04 / $0.08 per million input/output tokens, against $0.55 / $2.20 for MiniMax M1.
- MiniMax M1 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | MiniMax |
| Noometry Index | 28.1 | 40.3 |
| Rank | 326 | 150 |
| Context | 131K | 1M |
| Input $/M | $0.04 | $0.55 |
| Output $/M | $0.08 | $2.20 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Gemma 3 4B: 35.9 (#215)
- MiniMax M1: 39.9 (#153)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1230 | 1359 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 3 4B: 20.9 (#142)
- MiniMax M1: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 19.6% | — |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 3 4B: 13.2 (#335)
- MiniMax M1: 26.9 (#126)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1253 | 1339 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 25.2% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| DTBench | 50.9% | — |
| LMCA | 2.8% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 116.02 | — |

## Math

- Gemma 3 4B: 16.8 (#292)
- MiniMax M1: 37.5 (#151)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1239 | 1361 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 7.5% | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 3 4B: 11.8 (#299)
- MiniMax M1: 36.4 (#170)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1223 | 1317 |
| GPQA Diamond | 23.2% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 6.4% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 3 4B: 42.5 (#194)
- MiniMax M1: 45.8 (#163)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1273 | 1319 |
| LMArena German | 1281 | 1350 |
| LMArena Russian | 1294 | 1329 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1360 |
| LMArena French | — | 1370 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1217 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1266 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1353 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 3 4B: 65.2 (#225)
- MiniMax M1: 69.3 (#174)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1239 | 1312 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 3 4B: 38.7 (#194)
- MiniMax M1: 41.4 (#141)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1273 | 1326 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 69.4% |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 3 4B: 42.0 (#239)
- MiniMax M1: 53.1 (#161)

| Benchmark | Gemma 3 4B | MiniMax M1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1291 | 1343 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1271 | 1298 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1255 | 1335 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1068 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 3 4B better than MiniMax M1?

MiniMax M1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.3 to 28.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 3 4B costs 19× less per token, which makes it the better buy when MiniMax M1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 4B or MiniMax M1?

Gemma 3 4B is cheaper. It lists at $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.08 per million output tokens; MiniMax M1 lists at $0.55 and $2.20.

### Is Gemma 3 4B or MiniMax M1 better for coding?

MiniMax M1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 39.9 versus 35.9 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

MiniMax M1 does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 3 4B and MiniMax M1 share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 3 4B has 22 scored results on Noometry and MiniMax M1 has 18.