Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 270M or Gemma 4 31B IT?

At Q4_K_M, Gemma 3 270M needs 0.2 GB and Gemma 4 31B IT needs 21.2 GB, so Gemma 3 270M is the lighter option to run locally.

What is the difference between Gemma 3 270M and Gemma 4 31B IT?

Gemma 3 270M is a 268M model from Google (Gemma family), while Gemma 4 31B IT is a 32.7B model from Google (Gemma family). Compare their VRAM requirements above to see which fits your GPU or Mac.

Gemma 3 270M vs Gemma 4 31B IT

Side-by-side comparison of VRAM requirements, quantization, context length, and hardware compatibility.

Gemma 3 270M

Google · 268M

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Gemma 4 31B IT

Google · 32.7B

Vision

Specifications

	Gemma 3 270M	Gemma 4 31B IT
Parameters	268M	32.7B
Context	—	262K
Architecture	—	Gemma4ForConditionalGeneration
License	Gemma Terms	Apache 2.0
Downloads	7.6M	11.1M
Released	Aug 2025	—

VRAM by Quantization: Gemma 3 270M vs Gemma 4 31B IT

Quantization	Bits	Gemma 3 270M VRAM	Gemma 4 31B IT VRAM
Q2_K	3.40	0.1 GB	15.5 GB
Q3_K_M	3.90	0.1 GB	17.6 GB
Q3_K_S	3.50	0.1 GB	—
Q4_0	4.00	0.1 GB	—
Q4_K_M	4.80	0.2 GB	21.2 GB
Q5_K_M	5.70	0.2 GB	24.9 GB
Q6_K	6.60	0.2 GB	28.6 GB
Q8_0	8.00	0.3 GB	34.3 GB

Verdict

Gemma 3 270M needs less VRAM at Q4_K_M (0.2 GB vs 21.2 GB), so it fits on smaller GPUs. Gemma 4 31B IT is the more widely downloaded of the two.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 270M or Gemma 4 31B IT?: At Q4_K_M, Gemma 3 270M needs 0.2 GB and Gemma 4 31B IT needs 21.2 GB, so Gemma 3 270M is the lighter option to run locally.
What is the difference between Gemma 3 270M and Gemma 4 31B IT?: Gemma 3 270M is a 268M model from Google (Gemma family), while Gemma 4 31B IT is a 32.7B model from Google (Gemma family). Compare their VRAM requirements above to see which fits your GPU or Mac.