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Model comparison

Gemma 4 26B A4B vs Qwen3.6-27B

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 19 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

57.96/100
Margin
4.1pts
← winning
53.82/100
0 category wins2 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Gemma 4 26B A4B #67 (Supported); Qwen3.6-27B #93 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Gemma 4 26B A4B and Qwen3.6-27B share 19 comparable benchmark results. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 1 result is unique to Gemma 4 26B A4B; 35 to Qwen3.6-27B.

Updated July 21, 2026
Shared results
19
Gemma 4 26B A4B only
1
Qwen3.6-27B only
35
Comparable categories
2 / 8

Pick Gemma 4 26B A4B if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen3.6-27B only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 262K context window.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 19 shared benchmark results across 6 evidence categories; 2 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Gemma 4 26B A4B is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 57.96 to 53.82. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Qwen3.6-27B gives you the larger context window at 262K, compared with 256K for Gemma 4 26B A4B.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Gemma 4 26B A4B and Qwen3.6-27B
CategoryGemma 4 26B A4BΔQwen3.6-27B
KnowledgeGemma 4 26B A4B43.4Margin 9.9Qwen3.6-27B53.3
MultimodalGemma 4 26B A4B73.8Margin 2.9Qwen3.6-27B76.7
AgenticGemma 4 26B A4BNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B59.3
CodingGemma 4 26B A4BNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B77.5
MathGemma 4 26B A4BNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B89.2

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Gemma 4 26B A4BB · Qwen3.6-27B
  1. HLE

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 17.2%B 24%
    Winner: Qwen3.6-27BΔ 6.8
    HLE: Gemma 4 26B A4B scored 17.2%; Qwen3.6-27B scored 24%. Qwen3.6-27B wins this benchmark.
  2. MMLU-Pro

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 82.6%B 86.2%
    Winner: Qwen3.6-27BΔ 3.6
    MMLU-Pro: Gemma 4 26B A4B scored 82.6%; Qwen3.6-27B scored 86.2%. Qwen3.6-27B wins this benchmark.
  3. MMMU-Pro

    Multimodal
    Source ↗
    A 73.8%B 75.8%
    Winner: Qwen3.6-27BΔ 2
    MMMU-Pro: Gemma 4 26B A4B scored 73.8%; Qwen3.6-27B scored 75.8%. Qwen3.6-27B wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricGemma 4 26B A4BQwen3.6-27BComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensGemma 4 26B A4B$0 input / $0 outputQwen3.6-27B$0 input / $0 outputListed prices are equal.
Generation speedtokens per secondGemma 4 26B A4BNot availableQwen3.6-27BNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenGemma 4 26B A4BNot availableQwen3.6-27BNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensGemma 4 26B A4B256KQwen3.6-27B262KQwen3.6-27B lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkGemma 4 26B A4BQwen3.6-27BResult
AA Agentic IndexSource 11.0%27.0%Qwen3.6-27B leads
τ²-bench resultsSource 43.6%94.2%Qwen3.6-27B leads
GDPval-AASource 13.1%32.0%Qwen3.6-27B leads
GDPval-AASource 7611140Qwen3.6-27B leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 59.3%Not comparable
Claw-EvalSource 72.4%Not comparable
QwenClawBenchSource 53.4%Not comparable
QwenWebBenchSource 1487Not comparable
AndroidWorldSource 70.3%Not comparable
Gert LabsSource 54.84%Not comparable
Coding
BenchmarkGemma 4 26B A4BQwen3.6-27BResult
AA Coding IndexSource 39.3%53.7%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-SciCodeSource 40.0%39.8%Gemma 4 26B A4B leads
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 77.2%Not comparable
SWE MultilingualSource 71.3%Not comparable
SWE-bench ProSource 53.5%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 59.3%Not comparable
LiveCodeBenchSource 83.9%Not comparable
NL2RepoSource 36.2%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkGemma 4 26B A4BQwen3.6-27BResult
AA-LCRSource 55.7%68.7%Qwen3.6-27B leads
CritPtSource 0.0%1.1%Qwen3.6-27B leads
KnowledgeQwen3.6-27B wins
BenchmarkGemma 4 26B A4BQwen3.6-27BResult
MMLU-ProSource 82.6%86.2%Qwen3.6-27B leads
HLESource 17.2%24%Qwen3.6-27B leads
HLE w/o toolsSource 8.7%Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 25.7%37.0%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 79.2%84.2%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-HLESource 18.3%21.6%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -48.1%-19.8%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 18.2%19.2%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 80.9%48.3%Qwen3.6-27B leads
MMLU-ReduxSource 93.5%Not comparable
SuperGPQASource 66%Not comparable
C-EvalSource 91.4%Not comparable
GPQASource 87.8%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkGemma 4 26B A4BQwen3.6-27BResult
HMMT Feb 2025Source 93.8%Not comparable
HMMT Nov 2025Source 90.7%Not comparable
HMMT Feb 2026Source 84.3%Not comparable
MMAnswerBenchSource 80.8%Not comparable
AIME26Source 94.1%Not comparable
MultimodalQwen3.6-27B wins
BenchmarkGemma 4 26B A4BQwen3.6-27BResult
MMMU-ProSource 73.8%75.8%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-MMMU-ProSource 69.2%74.6%Qwen3.6-27B leads
MMMUSource 82.9%Not comparable
RealWorldQASource 84.1%Not comparable
DynaMathSource 85.6%Not comparable
MStarSource 81.4%Not comparable
SimpleVQASource 56.1%Not comparable
CharXivSource 78.4%Not comparable
CC-OCRSource 81.2%Not comparable
CountBenchSource 97.8%Not comparable
RefCOCO (avg)Source 92.5%Not comparable
ERQASource 62.5%Not comparable
Video-MME (with subtitle)Source 87.7%Not comparable
VideoMMMUSource 84.4%Not comparable
MLVU (M-Avg)Source 86.6%Not comparable
V*Source 94.7%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkGemma 4 26B A4BQwen3.6-27BResult
AA-IFBenchSource 72.4%67.6%Gemma 4 26B A4B leads
Frequently Asked Questions (3)

Which is better, Gemma 4 26B A4B or Qwen3.6-27B?

Gemma 4 26B A4B is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 57.96 to 53.82. The biggest single separator in this matchup is HLE, where the scores are 17.2% and 24%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Gemma 4 26B A4B or Qwen3.6-27B?

Qwen3.6-27B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 53.3 versus 43.4. Inside this category, AA-Omniscience Hallucination Rate is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, Gemma 4 26B A4B or Qwen3.6-27B?

Qwen3.6-27B has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 76.7 versus 73.8. Inside this category, AA-MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Self-host vs API cost

Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.

Gemma 4 26B A4B
API / mo$0
Self-host / moNot listed
Break-even
Proprietary model — self-hosting not applicable.
Qwen3.6-27B
API / mo$0
Self-host / mo$429
Break-even
Model the full break-even

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Last updated: July 21, 2026

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