Gemma 3 4B IT vs Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Gemma 3 4B IT leads llmrun Score 64.0 to 61.7 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Gemma 3 4B IT is 1.9× faster on RTX 4090 (~231 vs ~124 tok/s).

Model A · Google

Gemma 3 4B IT

64.0llmrun Score

4.3B · Gemma Terms · Feb 2025

Vision

Model B · Meta

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

61.7llmrun Score

8.0B · Llama 3 Community · Apr 2024

Chat

Which should you choose?

Choose Gemma 3 4B IT if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
64.0 vs 61.7, ranges overlap
Ahead on the benchmarks
4 of 6 shared boards
1.9× faster on RTX 4090
~231 vs ~124 tok/s
Lighter on memory
2.8 vs 5.3 GB at Q4_K_M
Also does vision
Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct doesn't list it
Newer release
Feb 2025 vs Apr 2024

Choose Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct if you want…

Also does chat
Gemma 3 4B IT doesn't list it

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

MemoryGemma 3 4B ITMeta Llama 3 8B Instruct

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~62 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~33 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 16K

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~82 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~44 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 32K

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~103 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~55 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 32K

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~231 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~124 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 32K

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~410 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~220 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 32K

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~176 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~94 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 32K

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~30 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~16 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 32K

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~135 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~72 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 32K

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Gemma 3 4B IT

Q4_K_M · ~135 tok/s

5 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q4_K_M · ~72 tok/s

7.9 GB · up to 32K

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

Gemma 3 4B IT Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Overall

Gemma 3 4B IT

64.057–71

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

61.754–69

Reasoning

Gemma 3 4B IT

68.555–82

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

63.949–79

Gemma 3 4B IT · #87 of 92 open models · #30 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct · #89 of 92 open models · #32 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Benchmarks

6 shared boards: Gemma 3 4B IT leads 4, Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct leads 1 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026

BoardGemma 3 4B ITMeta Llama 3 8B Instruct

GPQA Diamond

Gemma 3 4B IT

23.2%#92/97 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

26.1%#88/97 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2024

LMArena Text

Gemma 3 4B IT

1303.3#104/186 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

1223.6#136/186 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

AIME 2024/2025

Gemma 3 4B IT

7.5%#63/85 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

1.9%#75/85 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2024

MMLU-Pro

Gemma 3 4B IT

43.6%#91/144 open

IndependentTIGER-Lab

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

41.0%#99/144 open

IndependentTIGER-Lab

Chess Puzzles

Gemma 3 4B IT

0.0%#51/67 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

0.0%#59/67 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2024

DTBench

Gemma 3 4B IT

50.9%#58/68 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

43.9%#66/68 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2024

8 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)

Only Gemma 3 4B IT (1)

LMCA2.8%

Only Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct (7)

VRAM by quantization

Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.

QuantGemma 3 4B ITMeta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Q2_K

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.0 GB1.7 GB file

32K 6.6 GB · 128K 21.4 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

3.8 GB3.2 GB file

32K 9.3 GB · 128K 26.9 GB

Q3_K_S

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.1 GB1.9 GB file

32K 6.7 GB · 128K 21.5 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

3.9 GB3.7 GB file

32K 9.4 GB · 128K 27.0 GB

Q3_K_M

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.3 GB2.1 GB file

32K 6.9 GB · 128K 21.7 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

4.3 GB4.0 GB file

32K 9.8 GB · 128K 27.4 GB

Q4_0

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.4 GB2.4 GB file

32K 7.0 GB · 128K 21.8 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

4.4 GB4.7 GB file

32K 9.9 GB · 128K 27.5 GB

Q4_K_M

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.8 GB2.5 GB file

32K 7.5 GB · 128K 22.3 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

5.3 GB4.9 GB file

32K 10.8 GB · 128K 28.4 GB

Q5_K_M

Gemma 3 4B IT

3.4 GB2.8 GB file

32K 8.0 GB · 128K 22.8 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

6.3 GB5.7 GB file

32K 11.8 GB · 128K 29.4 GB

Q6_K

Gemma 3 4B IT

3.9 GB3.2 GB file

32K 8.5 GB · 128K 23.3 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

7.3 GB6.6 GB file

32K 12.8 GB · 128K 30.4 GB

Q8_0

Gemma 3 4B IT

4.7 GB4.1 GB file

32K 9.4 GB · 128K 24.1 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

8.8 GB8.5 GB file

32K 14.3 GB · 128K 32.0 GB

20 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Gemma 3 4B IT

1.3 GB1.3 GB file

32K 5.9 GB · 128K 20.7 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

2.4 GB2.4 GB file

32K 7.9 GB · 128K 25.6 GB

IQ2_XS

Gemma 3 4B IT

1.4 GB1.4 GB file

32K 6.0 GB · 128K 20.8 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

2.7 GB2.6 GB file

32K 8.2 GB · 128K 25.8 GB

IQ2_S

Gemma 3 4B IT

1.5 GB1.4 GB file

32K 6.1 GB · 128K 20.9 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

2.8 GB2.8 GB file

32K 8.3 GB · 128K 25.9 GB

IQ2_M

Gemma 3 4B IT

1.6 GB1.6 GB file

32K 6.2 GB · 128K 21.0 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

3.0 GB2.9 GB file

32K 8.5 GB · 128K 26.1 GB

IQ3_XXS

Gemma 3 4B IT

1.8 GB1.7 GB file

32K 6.5 GB · 128K 21.2 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

3.4 GB3.3 GB file

32K 8.9 GB · 128K 26.5 GB

Q2_K_S

Gemma 3 4B IT

1.9 GB1.6 GB file

32K 6.5 GB · 128K 21.3 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

3.5 GB3.0 GB file

32K 9.0 GB · 128K 26.7 GB

IQ3_XS

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.0 GB1.9 GB file

32K 6.6 GB · 128K 21.4 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

3.6 GB3.5 GB file

32K 9.1 GB · 128K 26.8 GB

IQ3_S

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.0 GB1.9 GB file

32K 6.6 GB · 128K 21.4 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

3.8 GB3.7 GB file

32K 9.3 GB · 128K 26.9 GB

IQ3_M

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.1 GB2.0 GB file

32K 6.8 GB · 128K 21.5 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

4.0 GB3.8 GB file

32K 9.5 GB · 128K 27.1 GB

Q3_K_L

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.4 GB2.2 GB file

32K 7.0 GB · 128K 21.8 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

4.5 GB4.3 GB file

32K 10.0 GB · 128K 27.7 GB

IQ4_XS

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.5 GB2.3 GB file

32K 7.2 GB · 128K 22.0 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

4.8 GB4.4 GB file

32K 10.3 GB · 128K 27.9 GB

IQ4_NL

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.7 GB2.4 GB file

32K 7.3 GB · 128K 22.1 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

5.0 GB4.7 GB file

32K 10.5 GB · 128K 28.1 GB

Q4_1

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.7 GB2.6 GB file

32K 7.3 GB · 128K 22.1 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

5.0 GB5.1 GB file

32K 10.5 GB · 128K 28.1 GB

Q4_K_S

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.7 GB2.4 GB file

32K 7.3 GB · 128K 22.1 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

5.0 GB4.7 GB file

32K 10.5 GB · 128K 28.1 GB

Q4_K_L

Gemma 3 4B IT

2.9 GB2.7 GB file

32K 7.5 GB · 128K 22.3 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

not listed

Q5_0

Gemma 3 4B IT

3.0 GB2.8 GB file

32K 7.6 GB · 128K 22.4 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

5.5 GB5.6 GB file

32K 11.0 GB · 128K 28.6 GB

Q5_1

Gemma 3 4B IT

not listed

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

6.1 GB6.1 GB file

32K 11.6 GB · 128K 29.2 GB

Q5_K_S

Gemma 3 4B IT

3.3 GB2.8 GB file

32K 7.9 GB · 128K 22.7 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

6.1 GB5.6 GB file

32K 11.6 GB · 128K 29.2 GB

Q5_K_L

Gemma 3 4B IT

3.4 GB3.0 GB file

32K 8.1 GB · 128K 22.8 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

not listed

BF16

Gemma 3 4B IT

9.5 GB7.8 GB file

32K 14.1 GB · 128K 28.9 GB

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

17.7 GB~16.1 GB file

32K 23.2 GB · 128K 40.8 GB

How to run each

Gemma 3 4B IT

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/MaziyarPanahi/gemma-3-4b-it-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Gemma 3 4B IT →

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/MaziyarPanahi/Meta-Llama-3-8B-Instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct →

Specifications

Specifications of Gemma 3 4B IT and Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct
Spec	Gemma 3 4B IT	Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct
Publisher	Google	Meta
Parameters	4.3B	8.0B
Modalities	Vision	Chat
License	Gemma Terms	Llama 3 Community
Released	Feb 2025	Apr 2024

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Gemma 3 4B IT or Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct?

Gemma 3 4B IT leads llmrun Score 64.0 to 61.7 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Gemma 3 4B IT is 1.9× faster on RTX 4090 (~231 vs ~124 tok/s). Choose Gemma 3 4B IT for higher llmrun Score and ahead on the benchmarks; choose Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct for also does chat.

Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 4B IT or Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct?

At Q4_K_M, Gemma 3 4B IT requires 2.8 GB while Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct needs 5.3 GB, making Gemma 3 4B IT the easier model to run on your local setup.

Which is faster on RTX 4090?

Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 231 tok/s for Gemma 3 4B IT (Q4_K_M) and 124 tok/s for Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct (Q4_K_M), so Gemma 3 4B IT is faster. Estimates, ±20%.

Can I run Gemma 3 4B IT or Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct on a 16 GB GPU?

Gemma 3 4B IT fits at Q4_K_M; Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct fits at Q4_K_M.