# Gemma 4 26B A4B IT vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 41.7 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 14

## Summary

- They share 14 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT scores higher in 5 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 3 categories; 5 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads 45.6 to 39.0.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper at $0.0765 / $0.26 per million input/output tokens, against $0.10 / $0.30 for Step 3.5 Flash.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 256K.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 43.1 | 41.7 |
| Rank | 88 | 116 |
| Context | 262K | 256K |
| Input $/M | $0.0765 | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | $0.26 | $0.30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 38.8 (#156)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 41.7 (#106)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1446 | 1436 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1359 | — |
| SciCode | 40% | — |
| WeirdML | 35.2% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 927.17 | — |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 21.1 (#205)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 21.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1438 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 6% | — |
| DTBench | 74.9% | — |
| LMCA | 29.7% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 141.85 | — |

## Math

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.7 (#61)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 40.6 (#77)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1469 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 82.2% | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.6 (#79)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.0 (#127)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1447 | 1422 |
| GPQA Diamond | 73.2% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.2% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 39.9 (#43)
- Step 3.5 Flash: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1260 | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 53.3 (#68)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.7 (#115)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1422 | 1386 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1495 | 1448 |
| LMArena French | 1459 | 1421 |
| LMArena Russian | 1434 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1415 | 1419 |
| LMArena German | — | 1404 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1353 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1350 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 75.0 (#78)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.3 (#119)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1420 | 1385 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 43.6 (#87)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#112)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1427 | 1402 |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 58.8 (#110)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 59.0 (#108)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1434 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1401 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1442 | 1405 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1305 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 4 26B A4B IT better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 41.7 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 26B A4B IT or Step 3.5 Flash?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper. It lists at $0.0765 per million input tokens and $0.26 per million output tokens; Step 3.5 Flash lists at $0.10 and $0.30.

### Is Gemma 4 26B A4B IT or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.7 versus 38.8 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT does, with 262K tokens against 256K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 4 26B A4B IT and Step 3.5 Flash share?

14 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has 28 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.