Pick Gemma 4 for self-hosted, data-private deployment or running locally or on edge devices. Pick Microsoft Phi-4 for strong reasoning for a small 14b open-weight model or mit-licensed — fully self-hostable at no per-token cost. On a tight budget at scale, Gemma 4 is the value pick.
Gemma 4 (Google) and Microsoft Phi-4 (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. Microsoft Phi-4 is microsoft's MIT-licensed 14B open model — strong reasoning for its size and very cheap, but a tiny 16K context and text-only. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Context window: Gemma 4 holds 16× more — 256K (~384 pages) vs 16K (~25 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 15 months (released April 2, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
Gemma 4
Microsoft Phi-4
Provider
Google (US)
Microsoft (US)
Released
April 2, 2026
January 10, 2025
Context window
256K (~384 pages)
16K (~25 pages)
Price (in/out)
Open weight (self-host / free)
$0.07/$0.14 per 1M tokens
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 — Microsoft Phi-4 is comparatively weak here — no first-party per-token API; hosted prices are third-party
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 it is the newer of the two.
Strong reasoning for a small 14B open-weight model: Microsoft Phi-4 — Gemma 4 is comparatively weak here — trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks
MIT-licensed — fully self-hostable at no per-token cost: Microsoft Phi-4 — Microsoft Phi-4 lists mIT-licensed — fully self-hostable at no per-token cost among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
Runs on modest or local hardware: Microsoft Phi-4 — Gemma 4 is comparatively weak here — needs your own hardware to run
Lowest cost at scale: Gemma 4 — Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Microsoft Phi-4's $0.07/$0.14 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input: Gemma 4 — Its 256K window is about 16× larger than Microsoft Phi-4's 16K, fitting roughly 384 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Gemma 4 — At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Microsoft Phi-4, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Gemma 4 — Larger 256K window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is self-hosted, data-private deployment: Gemma 4 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is strong reasoning for a small 14b open-weight model: Microsoft Phi-4 — 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.
Microsoft Phi-4: where it fits
Microsoft's MIT-licensed 14B open model — strong reasoning for its size and very cheap, but a tiny 16K context and text-only. Released January 10, 2025 by Microsoft, it is built for strong reasoning for a small 14B open-weight model, mIT-licensed — fully self-hostable at no per-token cost, runs on modest or local hardware, and very cheap hosted inference at about $0.07/$0.14.
Its trade-offs: a tiny 16K context — by far the smallest window in this comparison, text only — no image, audio or video input, an early-2025 small model, outclassed on hard tasks by 2026 flagships, and no first-party per-token API; hosted prices are third-party. At $0.07 in / $0.14 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Gemma 4 and Microsoft Phi-4 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Gemma 4 costs less per token; Gemma 4 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Gemma 4 for self-hosted, data-private deployment, Microsoft Phi-4 for strong reasoning for a small 14b open-weight model. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 4 or Microsoft Phi-4 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 Microsoft Phi-4 leans toward strong reasoning for a small 14b open-weight model, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 or Microsoft Phi-4?
Gemma 4 is cheaper — Open weight (self-host / free) vs $0.07/$0.14 per 1M tokens.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 4 — 256K vs 16K, about 16× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Gemma 4 and Microsoft Phi-4 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Gemma 4, Microsoft Phi-4 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 Microsoft Phi-4?
Gemma 4 — released April 2, 2026, about 15 months after Microsoft Phi-4.
Gemma 4 vs Microsoft Phi-4
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 Microsoft Phi-4 for strong reasoning for a small 14b open-weight model or mit-licensed — fully self-hostable at no per-token cost. On a tight budget at scale, Gemma 4 is the value pick.
Gemma 4 (Google) and Microsoft Phi-4 (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. Microsoft Phi-4 is microsoft's MIT-licensed 14B open model — strong reasoning for its size and very cheap, but a tiny 16K context and text-only. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Context window: Gemma 4 holds 16× more — 256K (~384 pages) vs 16K (~25 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 15 months (released April 2, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Gemma 4
Microsoft Phi-4
Provider
Google (US)
Microsoft (US)
Released
April 2, 2026
January 10, 2025
Context window
256K (~384 pages)
16K (~25 pages)
Price (in/out)
Open weight (self-host / free)
$0.07/$0.14 per 1M tokens
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
Microsoft Phi-4 is comparatively weak here — no first-party per-token API; hosted prices are third-party
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 it is the newer of the two.
Strong reasoning for a small 14B open-weight model
Microsoft Phi-4
Gemma 4 is comparatively weak here — trails frontier closed models on the hardest tasks
MIT-licensed — fully self-hostable at no per-token cost
Microsoft Phi-4
Microsoft Phi-4 lists mIT-licensed — fully self-hostable at no per-token cost among its strengths; Gemma 4 does not.
Runs on modest or local hardware
Microsoft Phi-4
Gemma 4 is comparatively weak here — needs your own hardware to run
Lowest cost at scale
Gemma 4
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Microsoft Phi-4's $0.07/$0.14 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input
Gemma 4
Its 256K window is about 16× larger than Microsoft Phi-4's 16K, fitting roughly 384 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Gemma 4
At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Microsoft Phi-4, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Gemma 4
Larger 256K window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is self-hosted, data-private deployment
→ Gemma 4
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is strong reasoning for a small 14b open-weight model
→ Microsoft Phi-4
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.
Microsoft Phi-4: where it fits
Microsoft's MIT-licensed 14B open model — strong reasoning for its size and very cheap, but a tiny 16K context and text-only. Released January 10, 2025 by Microsoft, it is built for strong reasoning for a small 14B open-weight model, mIT-licensed — fully self-hostable at no per-token cost, runs on modest or local hardware, and very cheap hosted inference at about $0.07/$0.14.
Its trade-offs: a tiny 16K context — by far the smallest window in this comparison, text only — no image, audio or video input, an early-2025 small model, outclassed on hard tasks by 2026 flagships, and no first-party per-token API; hosted prices are third-party. At $0.07 in / $0.14 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Gemma 4 and Microsoft Phi-4 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Gemma 4 costs less per token; Gemma 4 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Gemma 4 for self-hosted, data-private deployment, Microsoft Phi-4 for strong reasoning for a small 14b open-weight model. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both Gemma 4 and Microsoft Phi-4 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.
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 Microsoft Phi-4 leans toward strong reasoning for a small 14b open-weight model, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 or Microsoft Phi-4?
Gemma 4 is cheaper — Open weight (self-host / free) vs $0.07/$0.14 per 1M tokens.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 4 — 256K vs 16K, about 16× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Gemma 4 and Microsoft Phi-4 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Gemma 4, Microsoft Phi-4 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 Microsoft Phi-4?
Gemma 4 — released April 2, 2026, about 15 months after Microsoft Phi-4.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.