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Gemma 2 9B vs o4

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 · o4 specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceTie

    Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.

  • Context windowo4

    o4 accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K, 24.4× 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.

  • Modalitieso4

    o4 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Gemma 2 9B.

  • OpennessGemma 2 9B

    Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License); o4 is API-only.

On balance o4 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Gemma 2 9B's 1. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. o4 accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K, 24.4× 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 o4 handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License); o4 is API-only.

o4 is the newer of the two, released 18 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 o4 sees more deployments in reasoning and math. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGemma 2 9Bo4
ProviderGoogleOpenAI
ReleasedJun 2024Dec 2025
Modalitiestexttext, vision
Context window8.2K tokens200K 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
  • o4Pricing 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 9Bo4
  • 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 o4 if

o4 fits when…

  • Exceptional performance on hard math and reasoning benchmarks
  • Good at multi-step planning and verification
  • Strong scientific reasoning
  • Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 9B.
  • Multimodal needs covering vision.
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 Proo4 vs Gemini 3 Pro

Frequently asked

  • Is Gemma 2 9B or o4 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?
    o4 accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 9B.
  • Is Gemma 2 9B or o4 better for coding?
    Both Gemma 2 9B and o4 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). o4 is API-only.
  • When were Gemma 2 9B and o4 released?
    Gemma 2 9B was released by Google on 2024-06-27. o4 was released by OpenAI on 2025-12-15.
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