Gemma 4 vs Anthropic Claude
Gemma 4 is Google DeepMind's current family of lightweight, open-weight language models, announced in April 2026, with weights free to download and run on hardware from cloud servers down to laptops and phones. Anthropic Claude is Anthropic's family of proprietary large language models, offered through the Claude apps, a pay-per-token API, and major cloud platforms like Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud Vertex AI. Choose Gemma 4 if you want free, downloadable weights to run yourself; choose Claude if you want Anthropic's hosted models accessed through an app or API without managing infrastructure.
Facts checked on against the official sources listed at the end. Usage numbers update daily.
Best for
Running free, open-weight models yourself on your own hardware or cloud
Free plan.
Best for
Using Anthropic's hosted proprietary models via app or API
Free plan. Paid from $20 a month for Claude Pro; API from $1 input per million tokens on Haiku 4.5.
Gemma 4 vs Anthropic Claude at a glance
| Compared on | Gemma 4 | Anthropic Claude |
|---|---|---|
| Model openness | Open weights, free to download under Google's Gemma license | Proprietary; no downloadable weights |
| Where it runs | Self-hosted locally, on your own cloud, or via Vertex AI | Anthropic's servers only, accessed via app, API or cloud platforms like Bedrock |
| Consumer app | None; distributed as weights only | Claude apps (web, desktop, mobile) with free, Pro and Max tiers |
| Cost for self-hosting | Free weights; you pay only for your own compute | Not applicable; Claude cannot be self-hosted |
| Context window | Varies by model size and configuration | Up to 1 million tokens on Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5 |
| Open source | No, Gemma license (open weights, with Google's own usage terms) | No, Proprietary |
| Free plan | Yes, weights are free to download and run | Yes, in the Claude apps; the API has no free tier and is billed per token |
| Paid plans from | Not listed | $20 a month for Claude Pro; API from $1 input per million tokens on Haiku 4.5 |
| Made by | Google DeepMind | Anthropic PBC |
| Launched | 2026 | 2021 |
What's the difference between Gemma 4 and Anthropic Claude?
Open weights vs proprietary hosting
Gemma 4's weights are free to download and run on your own hardware or cloud instance; Claude's models are proprietary and only accessible by sending requests to Anthropic's servers, whether through the Claude apps, API, or a cloud platform like Bedrock.
Cost structure differs fundamentally
Running Gemma 4 costs only whatever compute you use, whether local hardware or a cloud service; using Claude means paying Anthropic directly, either through a monthly app subscription or per-token API billing.
No consumer app for Gemma 4
Claude ships a polished consumer chat app with free, Pro and Max subscription tiers; Gemma 4 has no equivalent consumer-facing product, since it's distributed purely as downloadable model weights for developers to run themselves.
Capability and context trade-offs
Claude's current models, including Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5, support context windows up to 1 million tokens and represent some of the most capable available models; Gemma 4 is designed as a lightweight family that can run on modest hardware, generally trading some capability for accessibility and low resource requirements.
Gemma 4 vs Anthropic Claude pricing
Gemma 4's weights are entirely free to download and run; your only cost is compute. Claude has a free app tier, Pro at $20/month and Max from $100/month, plus API pricing from $1 input per million tokens on Haiku 4.5 up to $10 input on Fable 5.1.
Gemma 4
Free to download and run under Google's Gemma license. Running it costs only whatever compute you use, whether local hardware or a cloud service like Vertex AI.
Anthropic Claude
Claude apps: free plan, Pro at $20/month, Max from $100/month. API: $1 input / $5 output per million tokens on Haiku 4.5, up to $10 input / $50 output on Fable 5.1.
- Free
- $0
- Pro
- $20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly
- Max
- From $100 a month
- API: Haiku 4.5
- $1 input / $5 output per million tokens
- API: Sonnet 5
- $2 input / $10 output per million tokens
- API: Opus 5.5
- $4 input / $20 output per million tokens
- API: Fable 5.1
- $10 input / $50 output per million tokens
Prices in USD from the official pricing pages on 3 October 2026. They change often, so confirm on ai.google.dev and claude.com before you commit.
Usage and activity
Gemma 4 has 2.7 times as many GitHub stars as Anthropic Claude (5.8k against 2.1k).
| Measure | Gemma 4 | Anthropic Claude |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 5,766 | 2,132 |
| npm downloads a week | Not on npm | 54M (@anthropic-ai/sdk) |
| Latest release | v4.0.1, 4 months ago | google-cloud-sdk…, 1 week ago |
| Releases in 90 days | 0 | 10 |
From the public GitHub and npm APIs, updated daily. Stars and downloads show developer interest, not product quality.
Should you choose Gemma 4 or Anthropic Claude?
Choose Gemma 4 if
- You want free, downloadable model weights to run on your own infrastructure
- Data privacy matters and you don't want requests leaving your own environment
- Your hardware or cloud budget can handle running the models yourself
- You want the flexibility to fine-tune or modify the model
Choose Anthropic Claude if
- You want access to some of the most capable available models without managing infrastructure
- You'd rather use a polished consumer app or straightforward API than self-host anything
- You need very large context windows (up to 1 million tokens)
- You want enterprise-grade hosting via Amazon Bedrock or Google Cloud Vertex AI
Switching between Gemma 4 and Anthropic Claude
Moving from Claude to Gemma 4 means downloading the model weights and setting up your own hosting (locally, on your own cloud, or via Vertex AI), and generally accepting some capability trade-offs for the lightweight, self-hosted model. Moving from Gemma 4 to Claude means dropping your own infrastructure and self-hosting costs in favor of Anthropic's API or app billing, trading control and privacy for capability and convenience.
Gemma 4 vs Anthropic Claude: common questions
Can I run Gemma 4 for free?
Yes, Gemma 4's weights are free to download and use under Google's Gemma license. The only cost is whatever compute you use to run it, whether local hardware or a paid cloud service.
Can I self-host Claude the way I can self-host Gemma 4?
No. Claude's models are proprietary and only accessible through Anthropic's own infrastructure, whether via the Claude apps, API, or supported cloud platforms like Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud Vertex AI.
Is Gemma 4 considered fully open source?
Not exactly. Gemma 4's weights are free to download and use, but they're released under Google's own Gemma license terms rather than a traditional open source license, so there are specific usage terms to be aware of.
Which has a larger context window?
Claude's current flagship models, including Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5, support context windows up to 1 million tokens. Gemma 4's context window varies by specific model size and configuration.
Does Claude have a free way to try it?
Yes, the Claude apps have a free plan for casual use. The API itself has no free tier and is billed per token from the first request.
Other options to consider
All ai models toolsDeepSeek V3
Open-weight large language model from DeepSeek, since superseded by the DeepSeek V4 family.
DeepSeek R1
Open-weight reasoning model from DeepSeek, since superseded by the DeepSeek V4 family.
Llama 2
Meta's 2023 open-weight language model family, superseded by newer Llama releases.
StarCoder
Open source code-generation model from the BigCode project, trained on 80+ programming languages.
Sources
More sources for each tool are on the Gemma 4 and Anthropic Claude pages.