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Gemma 2 9B vs GPT-5.5

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-5.5 specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceTie

    Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.

  • Context windowGPT-5.5

    GPT-5.5 accepts 400K tokens vs 8.2K, 48.8× 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.

  • ModalitiesGPT-5.5

    GPT-5.5 supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 1 for Gemma 2 9B.

  • OpennessGemma 2 9B

    Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License); GPT-5.5 is API-only.

On balance GPT-5.5 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Gemma 2 9B's 1. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. GPT-5.5 accepts 400K tokens vs 8.2K, 48.8× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Gemma 2 9B handles text while GPT-5.5 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-5.5 is API-only.

GPT-5.5 is the newer of the two, released 20 months after Gemma 2 9B, 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-5.5 sees more deployments in agents and tool use. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGemma 2 9BGPT-5.5
ProviderGoogleOpenAI
ReleasedJun 2024Mar 2026
Modalitiestexttext, vision, audio
Context window8.2K tokens400K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Output · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (Gemma License)No
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 9BPricing unavailable
  • GPT-5.5Pricing 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 9BGPT-5.5
  • MMLU71.3
Pick Gemma 2 9B if

Gemma 2 9B fits when…

  • Strong 9B-class quality
  • Wide tooling
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Gemma License).
Pick GPT-5.5 if

GPT-5.5 fits when…

  • Industry-leading tool-use and function-calling reliability
  • Strong end-to-end agent performance across SWE-bench and GAIA
  • Wide ecosystem support, ChatGPT, Realtime API, Responses API
  • Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 9B.
  • Multimodal needs covering vision, audio.
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 9B vs Gemini 3 ProGPT-5.5 vs Gemini 3 Pro

Frequently asked

  • Is Gemma 2 9B or GPT-5.5 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-5.5 accepts 400K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 9B.
  • Is Gemma 2 9B or GPT-5.5 better for coding?
    Both Gemma 2 9B and GPT-5.5 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-5.5 is API-only.
  • When were Gemma 2 9B and GPT-5.5 released?
    Gemma 2 9B was released by Google on 2024-06-27. GPT-5.5 was released by OpenAI on 2026-03-01.
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