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Gemma 4 alternatives

Newest Gemma family with Apache-2.0 licensing, multimodal input, 256K context, and sparse on-device variants.

This Gemma 4 alternatives guide compares pricing, strengths, tradeoffs, and related options.

Gemma 4 is now the leading branch in Google's open Gemma family. It shifts the line to Apache-2.0 licensing, adds multimodal audio and vision support, and uses sparse on-device-friendly variants that make it more attractive than earlier Gemma branches for new local assistant builds.

Official site: https://ai.google.dev/gemma

Company YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@googledeepmind

At a glance

Pricing model Free
Page type Model family
Model source Own models
API cost No required vendor API cost for local/self-hosted use.
Subscription cost No mandatory subscription for base model access.
Model last update 2026-04-02 (Google Gemma releases list and Gemma 4 announcement).
Model weight counts 3.8B total / 1.7B active, 29B total / 7B active
Model versions Gemma 3 generation, Gemma 3n generation, Gemma 4 family launch, Gemma 4 model cards published
Related model Gemma 3n · Gemma 4 vs Gemma 3n
Key difference Gemma 4 is the higher-capability flagship branch with Apache-2.0 licensing; Gemma 3n is the smaller device-first branch optimized for tighter hardware.
Best for Multimodal local assistant workflows, Multimodal document understanding, Builders experimenting with vision-language tasks
Categories For Solopreneurs , For Small Business , Free AI Tools , Developers , Local LLMs , Vision LLMs

Model version timeline

Gemma 4 release milestones
2025-03-12
Gemma 3 generation
Gemma 3 set the baseline for modern multimodal Gemma releases with 128K context.
Source
2025-06-26
Gemma 3n generation
Gemma 3n pushed the family toward more efficient on-device multimodal deployment.
Source
2026-04-02
Gemma 4 family launch
Google announced Gemma 4 with E4B and 31B variants, 256K context, multimodal audio-image-text support, and function calling.
Source
2026-04-02
Gemma 4 model cards published
Official model cards document the E4B and 31B sparse variants and Apache-2.0 licensing.
Source

Top alternatives

  • Gemma 3n : Device-first Gemma branch with multimodal support, long context, and efficient E2B/E4B variants.
  • Qwen2.5 VL : Multimodal Qwen model family for local vision-language workflows.
  • Llama 4 : Open-weight multimodal family with massive context, but significant policy and license constraints.
  • Phi-3.5 Vision Instruct : Compact MIT-licensed multimodal model for local image, OCR, chart, and multi-image reasoning tasks.
  • InternVL 3.5 : Apache-2.0 multimodal family with many size options and a strong focus on reasoning, OCR, and agent-style visual tasks.

Notes

Gemma 4 is the Gemma family branch to evaluate first for new local multimodal builds unless your hardware budget pushes you toward Gemma 3n instead.

Comparison table

Tool Pricing Page type Model source API cost Subscription cost Pros Cons
Gemma 4 Free Model family Own models No required vendor API cost for local/self-hosted use. No mandatory subscription for base model access. Apache-2.0 licensing is simpler for commercial use than earlier Gemma branches; 256K context is strong for larger document and app workflows 31B still needs serious local hardware compared with smaller VLM options; Fresh releases can have uneven runtime support at first
Gemma 3n Free Model family Own models No required vendor API cost for local/self-hosted use. No mandatory subscription for base model access. Designed specifically for on-device deployment efficiency; Handles text, image, audio, and video inputs in one family Gemma terms are still less permissive than Apache/MIT model releases; Smaller ceiling than Gemma 4 or very large workstation-class VLMs
Qwen2.5 VL Free Model family Own models No required vendor API cost for local/self-hosted use. No mandatory subscription for base model access. Strong local multimodal capability set; Useful for document and visual analysis workflows Heavier runtime needs than text-only models; Requires careful context and memory tuning
Llama 4 Free Model family Own models No required vendor API cost for local/self-hosted use. No mandatory subscription for base model access. Very large context windows for repository- and corpus-level tasks; Multimodal support for text and image understanding License includes attribution and derivative naming obligations; Additional licensing conditions can trigger at very large scale
Phi-3.5 Vision Instruct Free Model family Own models No required vendor API cost for local/self-hosted use. No mandatory subscription for base model access. MIT licensing is simple for commercial use; Strong fit for OCR, chart, and table understanding Still needs careful VRAM tuning for heavier image batches; Weaker ceiling than larger frontier-scale VLMs
InternVL 3.5 Free Model family Own models No required vendor API cost for local/self-hosted use. No mandatory subscription for base model access. Broad model-size ladder for different hardware budgets; Strong multimodal reasoning and OCR direction Best checkpoints are heavier than small local VLMs; Setup and inference tuning can be demanding

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