AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

Gemma 4 31B Open vs GPT-5.6 Terra Paid

Gemma 4 31B vs GPT-5.6 Terra compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Can the open-source model replace the paid one? Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

Choose Gemma 4 31B if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose GPT-5.6 Terra if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

Gemma 4 31B vs GPT-5.6 Terra specs

SpecGemma 4 31BGPT-5.6 Terra
MakerGoogleOpenAI
TypeOpen-weightProprietary
Context window262K tokens1.1M tokens
Input price$0.1/M · free self-host$1.25/M
Output price$0.34/M · free self-host$7.5/M
Vision / multimodalYesYes
Tool / function callingYesYes
Self-hostableYesNo (API only)
LicenseGemma LicenseProprietary

Feature comparison

CapabilityGemma 4 31BGPT-5.6 Terra
Open weights (downloadable)
Self-hostable
Runs fully offline
Vision / multimodal
Tool / function calling
1M+ context window

Benchmarks: Gemma 4 31B vs GPT-5.6 Terra

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

Gemma 4 31B
GPT-5.6 Terra
Intelligence index
29.4
55
Coding index
43.4
76.7
GPQA
85.7%
92.5%
Humanity's Last Exam
22.7%
41.8%
Long Context Reasoning
62%
74%
SciCode
43.4%
53.9%
IFBench
75.6%
71.2%
τ²-Bench
59.9%
86.3%
τ-Bench Banking
15.1%
31.8%
Terminal-Bench
43.4%
88%
Terminal-Bench Hard
36.4%
57.6%
Speed
35.5 tok/s
136.5 tok/s
Latency
1.04s
106.97s
Intelligence per $
9.8

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Gemma 4 31B and GPT-5.6 Terra score

🏆 Best value & openness: Gemma 4 31B (4.8 vs 3.3 / 5)
CriterionGemma 4 31BGPT-5.6 Terra
Cost-efficiency5.04.0
Context window4.05.0
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality5.05.0

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

Gemma 4 31B Open

Google · Open-weight

Gemma 4 31B Instruct is Google DeepMind's 30.7B dense multimodal model supporting text and image input with text output. Features a 256K token context window, configurable thinking/reasoning mode, native function...

GPT-5.6 Terra Paid

OpenAI · Proprietary

GPT-5.6 Terra is a balanced model in OpenAI's GPT-5.6 series, positioned between the flagship Sol tier and the cost-efficient Luna tier. It is suited for everyday coding, reasoning, and agentic...

Other models in these families

These variants are tracked but not compared here — one page per family keeps the comparison readable.

Other variants tracked
Gemma 4 31B (free)Gemma 4 26B A4BGemma 4 26B A4B (free)Gemma 3 27BGemma 3 12BGemma 3n 4BGemma 3 4BGemma 2 27B

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemma 4 31B as good as GPT-5.6 Terra?

Gemma 4 31B is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but GPT-5.6 Terra may still lead on the hardest reasoning and agentic work. The gap keeps narrowing — benchmark both on your actual use case before deciding.

Can I run Gemma 4 31B locally?

Yes. Gemma 4 31B has open weights, so you can self-host it on your own GPUs or run it via a low-cost API. GPT-5.6 Terra is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

How much cheaper is Gemma 4 31B?

Gemma 4 31B costs $0.34/M output vs $7.5/M for GPT-5.6 Terra — roughly 22x cheaper via API, and free if you self-host.

Gemma 4 31B vs GPT-5.6 Terra — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Gemma 4 31B if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose GPT-5.6 Terra if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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