Compare / Gemma 2 27B vs Gemma 3 27B
Gemma 2 27B vs Gemma 3 27B
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 9 results on 2 sources that measured both models.
Results as of 8 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-08-4199ce0620fe).
Gemma 2 27B or Gemma 3 27B? The short answer
Gemma 3 27B is the newer version; they score about the same, so pick Gemma 3 27B, which costs less (4.7 times less per token).
- Gemma 3 27B is cheaper: $0.14 against $0.65 per million tokens, 4.7 times less.
- Gemma 3 27B is newer: released 11 Mar 2025, against 24 Jun 2024 for Gemma 2 27B.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Gemma 3 27B does better for writing.
At a glance
| Gemma 2 27B | Gemma 3 27B | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.65 in · $0.65 out | $0.12 in · $0.20 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $0.65 | $0.14 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $0.10 (DeepInfra, FP8) |
| Intelligence Index | – | 4.9 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 8,192 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Released | 24 Jun 2024 | 11 Mar 2025 (newer) |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Developer based in | the US | the US |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among models available today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. The better rank is in green.
| Use case | Gemma 2 27B | Gemma 3 27B |
|---|---|---|
| Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls | not measured | 144 of 164 |
| Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge | not measured | 191 of 198 |
| WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality | 148 of 188 | 113 of 188 |
| Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers | not measured | 96 of 152 |
Every shared result
Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.
| Measure | Gemma 2 27B | Gemma 3 27B |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better | 1,289 | 1,365 |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better | 1,278 | 1,377 |
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better | 1,293 | 1,349 |
| UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results | ||
| Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better | 35.0 | 45.0 |
| Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better | 20.0% | 8.0% |
| Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better | 0.30 | 0.29 |
Show all 9 results (3 more)
| Measure | Gemma 2 27B | Gemma 3 27B |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better | 1,260 | 1,337 |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better | 1,271 | 1,343 |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better | 1,298 | 1,355 |
Quick answers
Is Gemma 2 27B better than Gemma 3 27B?
Gemma 3 27B is the newer version; they score about the same, so pick Gemma 3 27B, which costs less (4.7 times less per token).
Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B or Gemma 3 27B?
Gemma 3 27B is cheaper: $0.14 against $0.65 per million tokens, 4.7 times less.
Run Gemma 2 27B and Gemma 3 27B on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.