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Gemma 2 2B vs Phi-3.5 Medium

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

Gemma 2 2B specs · Phi-3.5 Medium specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceTie

    Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.

  • Context windowPhi-3.5 Medium

    Phi-3.5 Medium accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K, 15.6× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text.

  • OpennessTie

    Both ship open weights, self-host either one.

On balance Phi-3.5 Medium edges ahead, winning 1 of 5 categories against Gemma 2 2B's 0. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Phi-3.5 Medium accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K, 15.6× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both ship open weights, self-host either one.

Both shipped within roughly a month of each other in 2024, so they share the same generation of training data and tooling. Gemma 2 2B is usually picked for on device and edge deployment workloads, while Phi-3.5 Medium sees more deployments in on device and edge deployment. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGemma 2 2BPhi-3.5 Medium
ProviderGoogleMicrosoft
ReleasedJul 2024Aug 2024
Modalitiestexttext
Context window8.2K tokens128K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Output · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (Gemma License)Yes (MIT)
API availableYesYes

Pricing at scale

What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day, vs ,
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs ,
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs ,

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Gemma 2 2BPricing unavailable
  • Phi-3.5 MediumPricing unavailable

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Gemma 2 2BPhi-3.5 Medium
  • MMLU,78.9
Pick Gemma 2 2B if

Gemma 2 2B fits when…

  • Tiny, runs on phones
  • Wide tooling
Pick Phi-3.5 Medium if

Phi-3.5 Medium fits when…

  • MIT license
  • 128k context
  • Strong reasoning at 14B
  • Long-context tasks, handles 128K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 2B.
Don't want either?

Consider Gemini 3 Pro

Google's late-2025 flagship, set new benchmarks on long-context, vision, and reasoning at competitive pricing.

See Gemini 3 Pro specsGemma 2 2B vs Gemini 3 ProPhi-3.5 Medium vs Gemini 3 Pro

Frequently asked

  • Is Gemma 2 2B or Phi-3.5 Medium cheaper?
    Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Phi-3.5 Medium accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 2B.
  • Is Gemma 2 2B or Phi-3.5 Medium better for coding?
    Both Gemma 2 2B and Phi-3.5 Medium are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.
  • Are either of these models open source?
    Both ship with open weights. Gemma 2 2B is licensed under Gemma License; Phi-3.5 Medium under MIT.
  • When were Gemma 2 2B and Phi-3.5 Medium released?
    Gemma 2 2B was released by Google on 2024-07-31. Phi-3.5 Medium was released by Microsoft on 2024-08-20.
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