Gemma, Qwen lead sub-10B local web search

The race for the best local search agent is shifting from raw parameter count to specialized tool-calling efficiency.

• –Gemma is widely praised as the gold standard for factual accuracy and world knowledge in the sub-10B class
• –Qwen is favored for agentic workflows due to its highly efficient instruction-following and native tool-calling
• –The community strongly recommends using RAG frameworks like Perplexica or Open WebUI over fine-tuning
• –Models under 4B still struggle with knowing when not to search, often requiring larger 8-9B models to prevent loops