DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) vs Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) by DeepSeek or Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) by Google? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) scores 2.5 points higher (11.4 vs 8.9) but costs 31× as much to run the benchmark ($461 vs $14.7; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) when you need intelligence above 8.9, and Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) when 8.9 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) | Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.4 | 8.9 | −21.9% Gemma 4 E4B (Reasonin… is 21.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $460.74 | $14.68 | −96.8% Gemma 4 E4B (Reasonin… is 96.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 20.20s | 57.75s | +185.9% Gemma 4 E4B (Reasonin… is 185.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $4.00 | $0.02 / $0.10 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image, Speech, Video |
Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) vs DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25): 21.9% less intelligence, 96.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 185.9% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25)Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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