Gemma 4 vs MAI-1-preview
Google · US | Microsoft · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Gemma 4 for self-hosted, data-private deployment or running locally or on edge devices. Pick MAI-1-preview for microsoft's first fully in-house, end-to-end foundation model - a historic break from relying solely on openai or ranked in the top 15 on lm arena at launch. Choose Gemma 4 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; MAI-1-preview if you want a managed API.
Gemma 4 (Google) and MAI-1-preview (Microsoft) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Gemma 4 is google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting. MAI-1-preview is microsoft's first fully in-house foundation model - a strategic break from sole reliance on OpenAI, trained on ~15,000 H100 GPUs. They diverge most on context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Cost model: Gemma 4 ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while MAI-1-preview is API-metered at Not published. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
- ▸Context window: Gemma 4 holds 2× more — 256K (~384 pages) vs 128K (~192 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
- ▸Recency: Gemma 4 is the newer model by about 7 months (released April 2, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Gemma 4 | MAI-1-preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google (US) | Microsoft (US) |
| Released | April 2, 2026 | August 28, 2025 |
| Context window | 256K (~384 pages) | 128K (~192 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | Open weight (self-host / free) | Not published |
| Open weight? | Yes — self-hostable | No — API only |
| 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
Open weights make this possible at all — MAI-1-preview is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
Running locally or on edge devices
Gemma 4
Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting — and it carries the larger 256K context.
Fine-tuning on your own data
Gemma 4
Google's open-weight family: Apache 2.0 licensed, multimodal, and sized from edge devices up, for private self-hosting — and its weights are open while MAI-1-preview is API-only.
Microsoft's first fully in-house, end-to-end foundation model - a historic break from relying solely on OpenAI
MAI-1-preview
Gemma 4 is comparatively weak here — trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks
Ranked in the top 15 on LM Arena at launch
MAI-1-preview
MAI-1-preview lists ranked in the top 15 on LM Arena at launch among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
Trained on roughly 15,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, a genuine internal infrastructure investment
MAI-1-preview
MAI-1-preview lists trained on roughly 15,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, a genuine internal infrastructure investment among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
Largest single-prompt input
Gemma 4
Its 256K window is about 2× larger than MAI-1-preview's 128K, fitting roughly 384 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Gemma 4
Larger 256K window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ Gemma 4
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; MAI-1-preview is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is self-hosted, data-private deployment
→ Gemma 4
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is microsoft's first fully in-house, end-to-end foundation model - a historic break from relying solely on openai
→ MAI-1-preview
That is its strongest area.
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.
MAI-1-preview: where it fits
Microsoft's first fully in-house foundation model - a strategic break from sole reliance on OpenAI, trained on ~15,000 H100 GPUs. Released August 28, 2025 by Microsoft, it is built for microsoft's first fully in-house, end-to-end foundation model - a historic break from relying solely on OpenAI, ranked in the top 15 on LM Arena at launch, trained on roughly 15,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, a genuine internal infrastructure investment, and rolled into Copilot alongside OpenAI models, giving Microsoft a real second option.
Its trade-offs: a 'preview' release, not yet positioned as Microsoft's primary Copilot model, no public per-token API pricing - not sold as a standalone product, and distinct from Microsoft's later MAI-Thinking-1 reasoning model - an earlier, more general-purpose entry.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Gemma 4 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. MAI-1-preview gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both Gemma 4 and MAI-1-preview 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 MAI-1-preview 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 MAI-1-preview leans toward microsoft's first fully in-house, end-to-end foundation model - a historic break from relying solely on openai, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 or MAI-1-preview?
Gemma 4 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while MAI-1-preview is API-metered at Not published. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 4 — 256K vs 128K, about 2× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Gemma 4 and MAI-1-preview together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Gemma 4, MAI-1-preview 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 MAI-1-preview?
Gemma 4 — released April 2, 2026, about 7 months after MAI-1-preview.
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.