Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) by Google or GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) scores 6.6 points higher (15.5 vs 8.9) but costs 1.6× as much to run the benchmark ($23.0 vs $14.7; both budget class). Pick GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning).
| Metric | Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) | GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.9 | 15.5 | +74.2% GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-rea… is 74.2% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $14.68 | $22.97 | +56.5% GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-rea… is 56.5% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 55.62s | 4.98s | −91.0% GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-rea… is 91.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.02 / $0.10 | $0.20 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) vs Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning): 74.2% more intelligence, 56.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 91.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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