# Gemma 4 26B A4B IT vs Qwen Max

> Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.5 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-vs-qwen-max
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 16

## Summary

- They share 16 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT scores higher in 7 categories and Qwen Max in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads 47.6 to 22.3.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 82.2% for Gemma 4 26B A4B IT and 16.1% for Qwen Max.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper at $0.09 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $1.60 / $6.40 for Qwen Max.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 33K.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 43.5 | 34.7 |
| Rank | 92 | 230 |
| Context | 262K | 33K |
| Input $/M | $0.09 | $1.60 |
| Output $/M | $0.30 | $6.40 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 39.0 (#164)
- Qwen Max: 30.7 (#292)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1447 | 1288 |
| Aider Polyglot | — | 21.8% |
| LMArena WebDev | 1359 | — |
| SciCode | 40% | — |
| WeirdML | 35.2% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 927.17 | — |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 21.8 (#213)
- Qwen Max: 25.1 (#151)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1439 | 1269 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 6% | — |
| DTBench | 74.9% | — |
| LMCA | 29.7% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 141.85 | — |

## Math

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 47.6 (#67)
- Qwen Max: 22.3 (#276)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 82.2% | 16.1% |
| LMArena Math | 1470 | 1275 |
| MATH Level 5 | — | 67.2% |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 1% |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.7 (#85)
- Qwen Max: 30.3 (#228)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 73.2% | 56.1% |
| LMArena Expert | 1447 | 1248 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.2% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 40.6 (#46)
- Qwen Max: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1260 | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 53.1 (#71)
- Qwen Max: 41.8 (#202)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1421 | 1263 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1495 | 1254 |
| LMArena French | 1460 | 1330 |
| LMArena Russian | 1434 | 1274 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1417 | 1290 |
| LMArena German | — | 1254 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1205 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1142 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 74.8 (#82)
- Qwen Max: 66.5 (#208)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1420 | 1262 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 43.6 (#91)
- Qwen Max: 39.4 (#180)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1428 | 1288 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 66.7% |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 58.6 (#115)
- Qwen Max: 47.8 (#205)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1434 | 1282 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1402 | 1248 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1441 | 1277 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1305 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 4 26B A4B IT better than Qwen Max?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.5 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 26B A4B IT or Qwen Max?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper. It lists at $0.09 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Qwen Max lists at $1.60 and $6.40.

### Is Gemma 4 26B A4B IT or Qwen Max better for coding?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT scores higher on coding benchmarks: 39.0 versus 30.7 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT does, with 262K tokens against 33K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 4 26B A4B IT and Qwen Max share?

16 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has 28 scored results on Noometry and Qwen Max has 23.