When catching up on Google’s AI news, you hear Gemini, and then you hear Gemma. The names are so similar-like twin siblings-that it’s easy to scratch your head and wonder, "What exactly is the difference?"
Technically speaking, Gemini is a family of multimodal generative AI models and intelligent assistants developed by Google DeepMind, while Gemma is a collection of lightweight open models built from the same technology that powers our Gemini models... but wait!
That explanation is a bit dry, isn't it? So, whenever I explain the difference to friends, I like to compare them to Ramen. Let me share this tasty analogy with you today.
Gemini: The High-End Ramen Restaurant Run by a Big Corp
First, think of Gemini as a top-tier ramen restaurant directly operated by a giant corporation called Google.
How do we eat this ramen? We have to visit the restaurant (gemini.google.com) or order delivery. We can’t see inside the kitchen to know what secret broth they’re using or how they control the heat.
However, as soon as you sit down, a professional chef serves you a perfect bowl of ramen made with the best ingredients and know-how. All we have to do is enjoy it. The taste and quality are guaranteed to be at the highest level the company has to offer.
Gemma: The Premium Packaged Ramen You Can Take Home
On the other hand, Gemma is the instant noodle released by that same restaurant.
It might not look as flashy as the bowl served fresh at the restaurant. But the important thing is that it was created based on the exact same recipe and technology as the famous shop. Thanks to that, it boasts a flavor that stands head and shoulders above other instant noodles.
The biggest appeal? You can take it home for free. Once you download it to your computer, you can cook it up anytime, even if the internet goes down.
The real fun of this "instant noodle" (Gemma) starts once you bring it home. (Gemma model fine-tuning)
- Respecting Your Tastes (LoRA Fine-tuning): The base flavor is excellent, but you can chop up some green onions or crack in an egg to suit your palate. It's like tuning the model slightly to specialize in a specific area.
- Creating Something New (Full Model Tuning): You can even take the noodles and soup base and completely reinvent them into a new dish, like Rabokki (Ramen Tteokbokki) or Budae-Jjigae (Army Stew).
At the Gemini restaurant, you have to eat from the set menu. But with the Gemma instant noodle, you have the freedom to change the flavor however you like.
If you visit the Gemmaverse, you can check out various tasty experiments people have made.
But There Are a Few Caveats!
Of course, to cook instant noodle, you need a few supplies.
- Your Own Kitchen: You need a pot and a stove with good heat-in other words, a computer with a High-Performance GPU.
- Cooking Utensils: You need tools like a ladle or chopsticks, which correspond to the right environment and frameworks.
- Cooking Skills: Most importantly, you need the cooking (development) knowledge to know how much water to add and how long to boil it. If you can't cook at all, even delicious instant noodle might remain a "pie in the sky".
To Summarize
- Gemini: "Forget the hassle, I want to eat the most delicious ramen prepared by Chef Google right now!" 😋
- Gemma: "I want to use my own pot to cook my own custom ramen that fits my taste perfectly!" 🧑🍳
Do the differences between Gemini and Gemma feel a bit more relatable now?
If you want to enjoy a comfortable service, go with Gemini. If you want to tinker and build your own AI, give Gemma a try.
Wishing you some delicious coding in your kitchen (PC) today!
Behind the Scenes of the 4-Panel Comic
How did you enjoy the 4-panel comic included in this post?
Actually, there's a little backstory to how this comic was born. Have you by any chance seen the cute Chrome character from Google Japan's X (Twitter)?
Looking at that little friend, I suddenly thought, "It would be great if our Gemini and Gemma had characters like that too." So, feeling a bit shy about it, I summoned all of my (lacking) drawing skills and scribbled a very simple draft first.
(A truly "simple" draft, isn't it? Haha 😅)
Next, I took this clumsy character sketch and rough story to Gemini's image generation feature, which carries the nickname "Nano Banana." I asked it, "Please draw a 4-panel comic with these kids based on this story!"
With the power of AI, the artwork came out looking cool, but one last important task remained. As you know, my blog operates in three languages!
To ensure readers all over the world could enjoy the story of these cute kids, I translated and edited the dialogue in the speech bubbles to fit each language, finally completing the comic.
I hope you enjoyed it!
Top comments (1)
This is a clean comparision. I also have a similar opinion:
"Variable Cost vs Fixed Overhead"
Gemini (API): You are paying a "Lazy Tax". It’s great for the "Skeleton" phase (System Design) because you can iterate fast. But the moment you hit scale, your API bill becomes a liability.
Gemma (Local): You aren't "saving money"; you are shifting costs. You trade a monthly API bill for the "Engineering Attention Tax". You now have to manage quantization, vLLM/SGLang configurations, and GPU orchestration. If your team doesn't have a specialized ML Ops person (cook), Gemma can actually become more expensive than Gemini.