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Head-to-head comparison

R1 Distill Llama 70B vs Gemma 3 4B

R1 Distill Llama 70B (DeepSeek) and Gemma 3 4B (Google) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, R1 Distill Llama 70B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#192 vs #195); Gemma 3 4B is 8× cheaper per output token ($0.10/1M vs $0.80/1M); Gemma 3 4B offers the longer context window (131K vs 8K tokens); and R1 Distill Llama 70B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose R1 Distill Llama 70B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #192 against #195 (11.5 vs 10.9 points).
  • you want to self-host: R1 Distill Llama 70B ships open weights while Gemma 3 4B is gated access.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 9.8 against 1.0.

Choose Gemma 3 4B if…

  • API cost matters — $0.10/1M output tokens against $0.80/1M, about 8× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.05/1M against $0.80/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 131K tokens against 8K.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Gemma 3 4B was listed 13 March 2025, R1 Distill Llama 70B 23 January 2025.

R1 Distill Llama 70B vs Gemma 3 4B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of R1 Distill Llama 70B and Gemma 3 4B
FieldR1 Distill Llama 70BDeepSeekGemma 3 4BGoogle
ModelCap Index position#192#195
Index score11.510.9
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.80$0.05
Output price / 1M tokens$0.80$0.10
Context window8K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens8K16K
API providers listed11
Weight accessOpen weightsGated access
Input modalitiesTextText, Image
First listed23 January 202513 March 2025
PublisherDeepSeekGoogle

Evidence: 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board · 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: R1 Distill Llama 70B vs Gemma 3 4B

Public benchmark boards where R1 Distill Llama 70B or Gemma 3 4B has a published result
BoardR1 Distill Llama 70BGemma 3 4BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—12741250–1298Only one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)—19.6PromptOnly one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis9.8intelligence-index1.0intelligence-indexR1 Distill Llama 70B

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

R1 Distill Llama 70B vs Gemma 3 4B: common questions

Is R1 Distill Llama 70B better than Gemma 3 4B?

R1 Distill Llama 70B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #192 against #195. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is R1 Distill Llama 70B cheaper than Gemma 3 4B?

Gemma 3 4B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.10/1M against $0.80/1M. Input tokens are $0.80/1M for R1 Distill Llama 70B and $0.05/1M for Gemma 3 4B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, R1 Distill Llama 70B or Gemma 3 4B?

Gemma 3 4B has the larger context window: 131K tokens against 8K.

Which is better for coding, R1 Distill Llama 70B or Gemma 3 4B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are R1 Distill Llama 70B and Gemma 3 4B open-weight models?

R1 Distill Llama 70B: Open weights. Gemma 3 4B: Gated access. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run R1 Distill Llama 70B and Gemma 3 4B?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for R1 Distill Llama 70B and 1 for Gemma 3 4B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this R1 Distill Llama 70B vs Gemma 3 4B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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