Gemma 4 26B A4B vs GPT-4.1

Head-to-head summary (our 12-test suite): Gemma wins structured output (5 vs 4) and creative problem solving (4 vs 3). GPT-4.1 wins constrained rewriting (5 vs 3). The remaining nine tests are ties. Details: - Structured output (JSON/schema): Gemma 5 vs GPT-4.1 4 — Gemma is tied for 1st ("tied for 1st with 24 other models out of 54 tested"), so expect stronger schema compliance and fewer format fixes in production. - Creative problem solving: Gemma 4 vs GPT-4.1 3 — Gemma ranks higher (rank 9 of 54 vs GPT rank 30 of 54), meaning more specific, feasible idea generation. - Constrained rewriting: Gemma 3 vs GPT-4.1 5 — GPT-4.1 is tied for 1st here, so it better compresses or rewrites text within hard character limits. - Tool calling & agentic planning: both score 5/5 and tie; both are top-ranked for function selection and decomposition (tool calling tied for 1st with 16 others). - Faithfulness, classification, long context, persona consistency, strategic analysis, multilingual: ties at top scores in our tests (both models tied for 1st in many of these categories). - Safety calibration: both score 1 and are middling in our ranking (rank 32 of 55 tied), so neither is a standout for safety refusal behavior in our suite. External benchmarks: GPT-4.1 posts measurable third-party results — SWE-bench Verified 48.5%, Math Level 5 83%, AIME 2025 38.3% (Epoch AI) — which provide independent evidence of its coding/math performance. Gemma has no external benchmark scores in the payload. Contextual takeaway: Gemma is the higher-value choice for strict schema outputs and creative ideation at far lower cost; GPT-4.1 holds an edge when tight compression/rewriting or independently-verified STEM/coding performance matters.

Gemma 4 26B A4B: input $0.08 / mTok, output $0.35 / mTok. GPT-4.1: input $2 / mTok, output $8 / mTok. If you assume a 50/50 split of input vs output tokens, 1M total tokens/month (500 mTok input + 500 mTok output) costs: Gemma $215/month (500*$0.08 + 500*$0.35) vs GPT-4.1 $5,000/month (500*$2 + 500*$8). At 10M tokens/month those numbers scale to Gemma $2,150 vs GPT-4.1 $50,000; at 100M tokens/month Gemma $21,500 vs GPT-4.1 $500,000. Gemma therefore runs ~4.375% of GPT-4.1's bill (priceRatio 0.04375). Teams with heavy throughput (APIs, content generation, high-volume assistants) should care deeply about this gap; cost-sensitive pilot projects should default to Gemma for equivalent-class capabilities.

Choose Gemma 4 26B A4B if you need top-tier structured-output fidelity (5/5), better creative problem solving (4/5), long context support (262,144 tokens) and dramatically lower cost (input $0.08 / mTok, output $0.35 / mTok). Choose GPT-4.1 if your priority is the smallest possible constrained-rewriting errors (GPT-4.1 scores 5/5), you need a 1,047,576-token context window, or you rely on third-party-verified STEM/coding performance (SWE-bench Verified 48.5%, Math Level 5 83%, AIME 2025 38.3% per Epoch AI). If budget limits scale to millions of tokens/month, Gemma delivers similar top-tier results for a fraction (~4.375%) of GPT-4.1's cost.