Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Gemma 4 31B
Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (69 vs 54 out of 100). On independent tests alone, Gemini 4 Hydrogen is ahead (78 vs 37). Gemma 4 31B has no list price we could verify, so the two cannot be compared on cost. On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, one of the independent tests, Gemini 4 Hydrogen leads 51 to 4.
| Gemini 4 Hydrogen · Google | Gemma 4 31B · Google | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard rank | #9 | #26 |
| Score (0–100) | 69 | 54 |
| Kind of work | Everyday default | Run it yourself |
| Price per 1M tokens | $1.50 to read · $7.50 to write | Not verified |
| Reads at once | 1M tokens (about 750,000 words) | 256K tokens (about 192,000 words) |
| Where you can get it | Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Google Cloud), Google AI Studio, Gemini for business, Gemini Enterprise, Gemini app | Amazon Bedrock, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Google Cloud) |
| Can a company host it itself | No | Yes (open weights) |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 51 | 4 |
| Vals Finance Index | 66.14% (rank 2) | Not measured |
| Vals Tax Agent Bench | 52.30% (rank 1) | Not measured |
| Vals Legal Research Bench | 53.85% (rank 6) | Not measured |
| Arena Text score | Not measured | 1452 (rank 75) |
| Best for | Everyday drafting and summarising, Spreadsheet models and forecasts in Google Sheets, First-pass tax and finance research, checked by a person, Multi-step tasks across Gmail and Drive | Reading scanned documents, Fixed, repeatable steps in a process, Keeping data on your own machines |
Cost of 1,000 jobs
| 1,000 of these | Gemini 4 Hydrogen | Gemma 4 31B |
|---|---|---|
| Support repliesthe customer message, the account notes and two help articles read; a 300-word reply written | $7.50 | No list price |
| Documents processeda two-page invoice or form read; the fields pulled out | $5.25 | No list price |
| Calls summariseda 40-minute call transcript read; a summary and next steps written | $20 | No list price |
| Contracts revieweda 40-page contract read against a checklist; a memo of issues written | $56 | No list price |
| Drafts writtena brief and one example read; a 600-word email or proposal section written | $8.25 | No list price |
Worked out from each vendor’s list price and a fixed size for each job. A product built on a model charges its own price on top. See what every model costs for the same jobs.
Choose Gemini 4 Hydrogen for
- Everyday drafting and summarising
- Spreadsheet models and forecasts in Google Sheets
- First-pass tax and finance research, checked by a person
- Multi-step tasks across Gmail and Drive
Scores 51 on Artificial Analysis's index, level with the dearer Gemini 4 Argon (50), at $1.50 in and $7.50 out per million tokens: 25% under Argon and Carbon today and 62.5% under them from 1 December.
Caveats: Released 12 November 2026: one independent test counts toward its score so far. Vals AI's tax, legal and finance tests are recorded below but not yet scored, because fewer than three models on this board carry them. Google sells it as the successor to Gemini 3.8 Flash, but it costs twice what 3.8 Flash does until 1 January 2027, when Google's pricing page says 3.8 Flash rises to the same $1.50 in / $7.50 out per million tokens. On Vals AI's tax test it ranks first with 52.3% of questions right, so close to half its answers there were wrong: a person still checks the output. In Gemini Enterprise it is switched off until an administrator turns it on, per Google Cloud's release notes. Google does not say which Gemini app plans get it or whether it becomes the default in Gemini for business.
Choose Gemma 4 31B for
- Reading scanned documents
- Fixed, repeatable steps in a process
- Keeping data on your own machines
Google's small open model for fixed, rule-following steps: free to use commercially and able to run on one strong workstation, but 4 on Artificial Analysis's index rules out reasoning.
Caveats: Slow on a desktop: users report 12 to 16 tokens (word-pieces) a second on Apple machines, and about 70GB of memory to read its longest documents. Users say the rival Qwen models handle long documents and multi-step tasks a little better; Gemma is better at sticking to instructions. Amazon Bedrock lists it at $0.14 in / $0.40 out per million tokens in US regions if you would sooner rent than run it.
What people running them say
Gemini 4 Hydrogen: On the Hacker News (a developer forum) launch thread, 534 upvotes, most comments are about Google's model names. On substance: modeless reads Google's charts as 'a better choice than Sonnet in areas outside of coding'; onlyrealcuzzo calls early results 'disappointing', reporting it does more than asked; ComputerGuru notes it costs more than anyone pays for 3.8 Flash today. Developers on day one, none verified, and too little to score.
Gemma 4 31B: Hacker News (a developer forum) users who run models on their own computers treat it as the reference point: 'the new baseline for local models' (soganess, who saw it use 70GB of memory on an Apple M5 Max); 'particularly good at pipeline/automation tasks' and better at following rules than far larger Qwen models; 'very good at OCR' (reading text from images). One user had it catch a bug Opus 4.7 missed. Counterpoints: Qwen 3.6 'handles context a little better', peers 'predominantly run Qwen', and about 11 to 16 tokens (word-pieces) a second on Macs feels slow.
Questions people ask
Which is better, Gemini 4 Hydrogen or Gemma 4 31B?
Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (69 vs 54 out of 100). On independent tests alone, Gemini 4 Hydrogen is ahead (78 vs 37). Gemma 4 31B has no list price we could verify, so the two cannot be compared on cost. On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, one of the independent tests, Gemini 4 Hydrogen leads 51 to 4.
When should I choose Gemini 4 Hydrogen over Gemma 4 31B?
Choose Gemini 4 Hydrogen for everyday drafting and summarising, spreadsheet models and forecasts in google sheets, first-pass tax and finance research, checked by a person, multi-step tasks across gmail and drive. Scores 51 on Artificial Analysis's index, level with the dearer Gemini 4 Argon (50), at $1.50 in and $7.50 out per million tokens: 25% under Argon and Carbon today and 62.5% under them from 1 December.
When should I choose Gemma 4 31B over Gemini 4 Hydrogen?
Choose Gemma 4 31B for reading scanned documents, fixed, repeatable steps in a process, keeping data on your own machines. Google's small open model for fixed, rule-following steps: free to use commercially and able to run on one strong workstation, but 4 on Artificial Analysis's index rules out reasoning.
Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100 and computed, not typed. 40% is independent testing (Artificial Analysis, Arena, Scale, Epoch, Vals and others; each test is scaled against the best score on this board, and tests of real work, such as finished freelance projects or professional tasks, count double the exams). 30% is price: the vendor's list price for a typical mix of reading and writing, on a fixed scale from $0.05 to $60 per million tokens, so a model that costs a fifth as much gains real ground. 15% is what people report after running it, from Signals and linked threads. 15% is fit: how much text it can take in at once and where a business can get it (the products and clouds that carry it), with a small credit for open weights. A missing component drops out and the rest are reweighted. A model with no independent test yet is provisional and ranks below every measured one. Within three points is a tie. Vendor-published figures are labelled and never counted. Prices are vendor list prices where published; a typical mix assumes three parts reading to one part writing.