Gemma 3n E4b: Google's On-Device AI

Google has just released Gemma 3n E4b, a powerful new AI model designed to run directly on your local devices. This is a significant step forward for developers who need fast, efficient, and private AI capabilities without relying on cloud servers. This blog post will cover everything you need to know about this exciting new model.

What is Gemma 3n E4b?

Gemma 3n E4b is a state-of-the-art, 4-billion-parameter language model from Google. The "n" signifies it's designed for on-device or "nano" applications, and "E4B" indicates its effective 4B parameter size, although the model has 8 billion raw parameters. It leverages innovative architectural designs like the MatFormer architecture and Per-Layer Embeddings (PLE). These features allow it to run with a memory footprint comparable to a traditional 4B model, making it perfect for laptops, and potentially even mobile phones.

It's a multimodal model, meaning it can understand not just text, but also images and audio, and it was trained on data in over 140 languages.

Benchmarks

Gemma 3n E4b puts up some impressive numbers, especially for a model of its size. Here's a look at some key benchmarks for the instruction-tuned (IT) version.

Note: Some benchmark scores for the compared models are not readily available in public sources and are marked as N/A.

These scores show that Gemma 3n E4b is a very capable model across reasoning, math, and coding tasks.

Which Models Does It Beat?

For its size, Gemma 3n E4b is a top performer. It was the first model under 10 billion parameters to achieve an LMArena score over 1300. This means it provides reasoning capabilities that are competitive with much larger models.

When to Use Gemma 3n E4b?

It requires 3GB of VRAM to run and one more alternative E2B model runs on just 2GB of VRAM. Which means you can run it on mobile phones as well if you have 3GB of RAM.

Gemma 3n E4b is ideal for a wide range of on-device applications. Here are some scenarios where it shines:

• Offline Applications with AI capabilities. You could potentially build a game like tic-tac-toe with AI opponent or a chatbot.
• Analyze and understand images and audio directly on the device.
• Since the model runs locally, user data never has to leave the device. No Privacy concerns.

How to Use Locally

Running Gemma 3n E4b on your own machine is surprisingly easy. Here are two popular methods:

Ollama

Ollama is a fantastic tool that simplifies running open-source models locally.

1. Install Ollama: Download it from the official website.

Run the model:

ollama run gemma3n:e4b "Your prompt here"

Pull the model: Open your terminal and run:

ollama pull gemma3n:e4b

LMStudio

LMStudio provides a user-friendly desktop application for running LLMs.

1. Install LMStudio: Download it from the LMStudio website.
2. Search for the model: In the app, search for google/gemma-3n-e4b.
3. Download: Click the download button. LMStudio will automatically select the best format (like GGUF) for your machine.
4. Chat: Go to the chat tab, select the downloaded model, and start your conversation.

How to Use with an API

If you prefer using an API, you have a couple of great options.

Google AI Studio

You can use Gemma models through the Gemini API.

1. Get an API Key: Visit Google AI Studio to get your free API key.
2. Use the API: You can use the google-generativeai library in your applications. The model name for the API may vary, but it will be in a format like models/gemma-3n-e4b-it.

Here's a quick Python example:

from google import genai

client = genai.Client(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

response = client.models.generate_content(
    model="models/gemma-3n-e4b-it", # Check official docs for exact name
    contents="What are the key features of Gemma 3n?",
)

print(response.text)

OpenRouter

OpenRouter offers a unified API for hundreds of models, and the best part is they offer Gemma 3n E4b for free.

You can use their OpenAI-compatible API to make requests.

curl -X POST "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_OPENROUTER_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "google/gemma-3n-e4b-it:free",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "What are the key features of Gemma 3n?"}
    ]
  }'

Cost and Alternatives

One of the most compelling aspects of Gemma 3n E4b is its cost-effectiveness.

As you can see, There is real hard competition in the market. You could potentially use llama 3.3 70b and llama 4 maverick for free on OpenRouter. Plus, Deepseek R1 Qwen3 8b is also a very good model and cheaper than Gemma 3n E4b. Only pros here is that Gemma 3n E4b can run on local devices and that's where it shines.

Conclusion

Gemma 3n E4b is a game-changer for developers looking to build AI-powered applications that run locally. Its combination of high performance, efficiency, multimodal capabilities, and unbeatable price point (free on OpenRouter!) makes it an incredibly attractive option. Whether you're building a privacy-focused app, an offline-first tool, or just want to experiment with on-device AI, Gemma 3n E4b is a model you should definitely check out.