AI model comparison

Gemma 4 31B vs Qwen3.5-9B

Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.

Gemma 4 31B Instruct is Google DeepMind's 30.7B dense multimodal model supporting text and image input with text output.

Input / 1M
$0.09
Output / 1M
$0.34
Context
262K

Qwen3.5-9B is a multimodal foundation model from the Qwen3.5 family, designed to deliver strong reasoning, coding, and visual understanding in an efficient 9B-parameter architecture.

Qwen3.5-9B is scheduled to be retired on October 21, 2026. Consider Qwen3.8 27B instead.

Input / 1M
$0.10
Output / 1M
$0.15
Context
262K

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

qwen logo

Qwen3.5-9B

1.3x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

google logo

Gemma 4 31B

14.7 vs 13.3 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

Tie

262K vs 262K tokens

Newer release

google logo

Gemma 4 31B

Released April 2, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

google logoGemma 4 31B14.7
qwen logoQwen3.5-9B13.3

Coding index

google logoGemma 4 31B43.4
qwen logoQwen3.5-9B23.5

Agentic index

google logoGemma 4 31B4.2
qwen logoQwen3.5-9BNot available

Pricing

Gemma 4 31B vs Qwen3.5-9B API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricgoogle logoGemma 4 31Bqwen logoQwen3.5-9B
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$0.09$0.10
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$0.34$0.15
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens$0.05Not available
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot availableNot available

What it costs in practice

Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.

Chat message

2K in, 500 out

google logoGemma 4 31B$0.35
qwen logoQwen3.5-9B$0.27

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

google logoGemma 4 31B$4.06$2.86 cached
qwen logoQwen3.5-9B$3.60

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

google logoGemma 4 31B$14.18$8.18 cached
qwen logoQwen3.5-9B$15.30

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricgoogle logoGemma 4 31Bqwen logoQwen3.5-9B
Context window262K tokens262K tokens
Max output16K tokens33K tokens
Input typesImage, Text, VideoImage, Text, Video
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsNot availableNot available
Default reasoning effortNot availableNot available
Release dateApril 2, 2026March 10, 2026

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricgoogle logoGemma 4 31Bqwen logoQwen3.5-9B
Tool callingSupportedSupported
Structured outputsSupportedSupported
JSON modeSupportedSupported
ReasoningSupportedSupported
TemperatureSupportedSupported
Stop sequencesSupportedSupported
Deterministic seedSupportedSupported
Verbosity controlNot supportedNot supported

Our take

Qwen3.5-9B is 1.3x cheaper for a typical chat. Gemma 4 31B scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (14.7 vs 13.3). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemma 4 31B or Qwen3.5-9B cheaper?

Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Qwen3.5-9B costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.15 per 1M output tokens, while Gemma 4 31B costs $0.09 per 1M input tokens and $0.34 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, Gemma 4 31B or Qwen3.5-9B?

Gemma 4 31B supports up to 262K tokens of context, compared with 262K for Qwen3.5-9B.

Is Gemma 4 31B smarter than Qwen3.5-9B?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Gemma 4 31B scores 14.7 and Qwen3.5-9B scores 13.3, putting Gemma 4 31B ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use Gemma 4 31B and Qwen3.5-9B at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Gemma 4 31B and Qwen3.5-9B answer side by side and keep the better response.

google logoqwen logo

Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to Gemma 4 31B and Qwen3.5-9B at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.