Head to head
Phi-4 Mini 3.8B vs Gemma 3 4B
Side-by-side specs, benchmarks, and a verdict by use case.
| Spec | Phi-4 Mini 3.8B | Gemma 3 4B |
|---|---|---|
| Parameters | 3.8B | 4B |
| Author | Microsoft | |
| License | MIT | Gemma |
| Context window | 0k | 0k |
| VRAM at Q4 | 10 GB | 10 GB |
| VRAM at Q5 | 12 GB | 12 GB |
| VRAM at Q8 | 18 GB | 18 GB |
| VRAM at FP16 | 33 GB | 33 GB |
| Use cases | chat, general, small | chat, general, vision, multilingual, small |
Verdict
Both models sit in a similar size class. The pick depends on tags, license, and benchmarks rather than raw parameter count.
For unambiguous commercial use, Phi-4 Mini 3.8B has the safer license (MIT) compared to Gemma.