Gemma 4 vs Hunyuan Hy3
Google · US | Tencent · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Gemma 4 for self-hosted, data-private deployment or running locally or on edge devices. Pick Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost or runs a 295b model at the cost of a 21b — only 21b parameters active per token.
Gemma 4 (Google, US) and Hunyuan Hy3 (Tencent, China) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. Gemma 4 is google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting. Hunyuan Hy3 is a 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. The breakdown below works through their capabilities and ideal use cases so you can match one to your task.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Context window: both advertise 256K (~384 pages). Tie on paper — test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
- ▸Recency: Hunyuan Hy3 is the newer model by about 3 months (released July 6, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
- ▸Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-China matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Gemma 4 | Hunyuan Hy3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google (US) | Tencent (China) |
| Released | April 2, 2026 | July 6, 2026 |
| Context window | 256K (~384 pages) | 256K (~384 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | Open weight (self-host / free) | Open weight (self-host / free) |
| Open weight? | Yes — self-hostable | Yes — self-hostable |
| Modalities | text, image, code | text, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Self-hosted, data-private deployment
Gemma 4
Hunyuan Hy3 is comparatively weak here — benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion
Running locally or on edge devices
Gemma 4
Gemma 4 lists running locally or on edge devices among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy3 does not.
Fine-tuning on your own data
Gemma 4
Gemma 4 lists fine-tuning on your own data among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy3 does not.
Frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost
Hunyuan Hy3
Gemma 4 is comparatively weak here — trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks
Runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token
Hunyuan Hy3
A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost — and it is the newer of the two.
Clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out
Hunyuan Hy3
Hunyuan Hy3 lists clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
Which should you pick?
Anyone whose priority is self-hosted, data-private deployment
→ Gemma 4
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost
→ Hunyuan Hy3
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ Gemma 4 or Hunyuan Hy3
Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
Gemma 4: where it fits
Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting. Released April 2, 2026 by Google, it is built for self-hosted, data-private deployment, running locally or on edge devices, fine-tuning on your own data, and multimodal tasks over a 256K context.
Its trade-offs are real: trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks, and needs your own hardware to run. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
Hunyuan Hy3: where it fits
A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. Released July 6, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token, clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out, and broad day-one ecosystem support plus an FP8 checkpoint.
Its trade-offs: benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion, and the hosted API is China-jurisdiction, and self-hosting a 295B MoE still needs serious hardware. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
The bottom line for this matchup
This is less "which is smarter" and more "which ecosystem fits." Gemma 4 (US) and Hunyuan Hy3 (China) differ on pricing philosophy, data-residency, and tooling as much as on raw scores. The pragmatic move is to run one real task through both and judge the outputs against your own constraints — including where your data is allowed to be processed.
Want both Gemma 4 and Hunyuan Hy3 without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is Gemma 4 or Hunyuan Hy3 better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Gemma 4 leans toward self-hosted, data-private deployment while Hunyuan Hy3 leans toward frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 or Hunyuan Hy3?
They are priced almost identically, so cost will not decide between them.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both advertise 256K (~384 pages). Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Gemma 4 and Hunyuan Hy3 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Gemma 4, Hunyuan Hy3 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Gemma 4 or Hunyuan Hy3?
Hunyuan Hy3 — released July 6, 2026, about 3 months after Gemma 4.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.