Gemma 2 9B vs GPT-4o
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 9B specs · GPT-4o specs- PriceGPT-4o
GPT-4o publishes pricing ($10.00 / 1M output tokens) while Gemma 2 9B does not.
- Context windowGPT-4o
GPT-4o accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K, 15.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksGPT-4o
GPT-4o leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on MMLU (broad academic knowledge), where it scores 88.7 vs 71.3.
- ModalitiesGPT-4o
GPT-4o supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 1 for Gemma 2 9B.
- OpennessGemma 2 9B
Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License); GPT-4o is API-only.
On balance GPT-4o edges ahead, winning 4 of 5 categories against Gemma 2 9B's 1. GPT-4o publishes pricing ($10.00 / 1M output tokens) while Gemma 2 9B does not. GPT-4o accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K, 15.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
GPT-4o leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on MMLU (broad academic knowledge), where it scores 88.7 vs 71.3. They differ in modality coverage, Gemma 2 9B handles text while GPT-4o handles text, vision, audio, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License); GPT-4o is API-only.
Gemma 2 9B is the newer of the two, released 2 months after GPT-4o, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Gemma 2 9B is usually picked for on device and edge deployment workloads, while GPT-4o sees more deployments in chatbots and vision. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Gemma 2 9B | GPT-4o |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | |
| Released | Jun 2024 | May 2024 |
| Modalities | text | text, vision, audio |
| Context window | 8.2K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | $2.50 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | $10.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | 2023-10 |
| Open weights | Yes (Gemma License) | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
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 $22.50
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $225
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $435
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).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Gemma 2 9BPricing unavailable
- GPT-4o$0.750
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU71.388.7
- HumanEval,90.2
Gemma 2 9B fits when…
- Strong 9B-class quality
- Wide tooling
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Gemma License).
GPT-4o fits when…
- Native multimodal
- Mature SDK and tooling
- Long-context tasks, handles 128K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 9B.
- Multimodal needs covering vision, audio.
Consider Gemini 3 Pro
Google's late-2025 flagship, set new benchmarks on long-context, vision, and reasoning at competitive pricing.
Frequently asked
Is Gemma 2 9B or GPT-4o 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?
GPT-4o accepts 128K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 9B.Is Gemma 2 9B or GPT-4o better for coding?
Both Gemma 2 9B and GPT-4o 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?
Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License). GPT-4o is API-only.When were Gemma 2 9B and GPT-4o released?
Gemma 2 9B was released by Google on 2024-06-27. GPT-4o was released by OpenAI on 2024-05-13.
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