Compare/Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) vs Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)

Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)vsHermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)

Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.

Google

Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)

Input
$0.13/M
Output
$0.4/M
Speed
75 tok/s
TTFT
1.18s
Nous Research

Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)

Input
$0.13/M
Output
$0.4/M
Speed
56 tok/s
TTFT
1.46s

Winner by Category

Cheaper
Tie
Faster (tok/s)
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)
Lower Latency
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)
Benchmarks (1-0)
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)

Pricing Comparison

MetricGemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)
Input ($/M tokens)$0.13$0.13
Output ($/M tokens)$0.4$0.4
Cost for 1M input + 100K output tokens:
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)$0.17
Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)$0.17

Speed Comparison

Output Speed (tokens/s) — higher is better
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)
75 tok/s
Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)
56 tok/s
Time to First Token (seconds) — lower is better
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)
1.18s
Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)
1.46s

Editorial Analysis

Verdict. Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) wins the overall benchmark matchup 1–0 across 1 overlapping categories, but raw benchmark score is only one input to the decision.

Pricing. Both models sit in the budget bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning) is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning) makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.

Strengths. Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) is strongest on Intelligence Index (20.4). Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning) leads on Intelligence Index (6.7).

Speed. On throughput, Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) generates tokens at 75 tok/s versus 56 tok/s — about 25% faster. On time-to-first-token, Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) responds in 1180ms vs 1460ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.

Provider. Google and Nous Research sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: Google tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while Nous Research often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.

Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) costs $9.90 ($119/year); Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning) costs $9.90 ($119/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) ≈ $1.45/run, Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning) ≈ $1.45/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) ≈ $66/run, Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning) ≈ $66/run.

Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.

Benchmark Comparison

Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks

Intelligence Index
20.46.7
Coding Index
Math Index
GPQA Diamond
MMLU-Pro
LiveCodeBench
AIME 2025
MATH-500
Humanity's Last Exam
SciCode
IFBench
TerminalBench
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning)1 wins
0 winsHermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) or Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)?

Both models have similar pricing. Check the detailed breakdown above for input vs output token costs.

Which model performs better on benchmarks?

Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) wins 1 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning). See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.

Which is faster for real-time applications?

Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) generates tokens faster at 75 tok/s vs 56 tok/s. Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) also has lower time-to-first-token (1.18s vs 1.46s).

When should I use Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) vs Hermes 4 - Llama-3.1 70B (Non-reasoning)?

Choose based on your priorities: both are similarly priced, Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) for stronger benchmark performance, and Gemma 4 26B A4B (Non-reasoning) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.