Gemma 4 31B vs R1 Distill Llama 70B
| Signal | Gemma 4 31B | Delta | R1 Distill Llama 70B |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 83 | +50 | |
Benchmarks | 86 | +46 | |
Pricing | 100 | +1 | |
Context window size | 86 | +24 | |
Recency | 100 | +69 | |
Output Capacity | 90 | +25 | |
| Overall Result | 6 wins | of 6 | 0 wins |
Score History
80.5
current score
Gemma 4 31B
right now
40.7
current score
Gemma 4 31B
R1 Distill Llama 70B
DeepSeek
Gemma 4 31B saves you $93.00/month
That's $1116.00/year compared to R1 Distill Llama 70B at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Gemma 4 31B | R1 Distill Llama 70B | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 81 | 41 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Rank | #83 | #232 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Quality Rank | #83 | #232 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Adoption Rank | #83 | #232 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Parameters | 31B | 70B | -- |
| Context Window | 262K | 8K | Gemma 4 31B |
| Pricing | $0.10/$0.34/M | $0.80/$0.80/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 83 | 33 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Benchmarks | 86 | 40 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Pricing | 100 | 99 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Context window size | 86 | 62 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Recency | 100 | 31 | Gemma 4 31B |
| Output Capacity | 90 | 65 | Gemma 4 31B |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 81/100 (rank #83), placing it in the top 72% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 41/100 (rank #232), placing it in the top 20% of all 290 models tracked.
Gemma 4 31B has a 40-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably stronger performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.
Choose Gemma 4 31B when you need:
- High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
- Processing long documents or large codebases (262K token context)
- Multimodal workflows that require image understanding
- Agentic applications using tool/function calling
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Choose R1 Distill Llama 70B when you need:
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Gemma 4 31B offers 73% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $6.60/month with Gemma 4 31B vs $24.00/month with R1 Distill Llama 70B - a $17.40 monthly difference.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Gemma 4 31B also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (262K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.34/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (81/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
Gemma 4 31B clearly outperforms R1 Distill Llama 70B with a significant 39.8-point lead. For most general use cases, Gemma 4 31B is the stronger choice. However, R1 Distill Llama 70B may still excel in niche scenarios.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
Gemma 4 31B
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Gemma 4 31B
73% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Gemma 4 31B
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Gemma 4 31B
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Gemma 4 31B
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by Google
- Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
- Choose for Cost - 73% lower pricing; better value at scale
- Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
- Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
- Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
| Capability | Gemma 4 31B | R1 Distill Llama 70B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input)differs | ||
| Function Callingdiffers | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Modediffers | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Gemma 4 31B
R1 Distill Llama 70B
DeepSeek
Gemma 4 31B saves you $1.81/month
That's 76% cheaper than R1 Distill Llama 70B at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | Gemma 4 31B | R1 Distill Llama 70B |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 262K | 8K |
| Max Output Tokens | 262,144 | 8,192 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Apr 2, 2026 | Jan 23, 2025 |