Gemma 2 27B vs Gemma 3 12B IT vs Mistral Large
Gemma 3 12B IT comes out ahead, 57 to 44 and 35 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
GoogleGemma 2 27B
35/100- ECI122.1
- Price$0.65 / $0.65
- Context8K
- Our pickGoogle
Gemma 3 12B IT
57/100- ECI123.5
- Price$0.05 / $0.15
- Context131K
Mistral AIMistral Large
44/100- ECI122.0
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context128K
Gemma 3 12B IT is our pick
Gemma 3 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Mistral Large (44) and Gemma 2 27B (35). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemma 3 12B ITCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5 · Gemma 2 27B 122.1 · Mistral Large 122.0
- Lowest priceGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT $0.075 · Gemma 2 27B $0.65 · Mistral Large $0.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT 131,072 · Mistral Large 128,000 · Gemma 2 27B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsGemma 3 12B IT and Mistral LargeGemma 2 27B: Text · Gemma 3 12B IT: Text, Images · Mistral Large: Text, PDFs
- Self-hostingGemma 2 27B and Gemma 3 12B ITPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemma 2 27B | Gemma 3 12B IT | Mistral Large |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 42 | 44 | 42 |
| Price | 25% | 56 | 99 | 53 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 0 | 50 | 45 |
| Context window | 10% | 0 | 25 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 35/100 | 57/100 | 44/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemma 2 27BGoogle | Gemma 3 12B ITGoogle | Mistral LargeMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 122.1 | 123.5 (best) | 122.0 |
| ECI rank | #152 of 165 | #151 of 165 (best) | #153 of 165 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 36.5% | 39.5% (best) | 38.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 1.4% | 16.7% (best) | 1.9% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.65 | $0.05 (best) | $0.50 |
| Output | $0.65 | $0.15 (best) | $1.50 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.05 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.65 | $0.075 (best) | $0.75 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 3 providers | Median of 12 providers | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 8,192 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 2,048 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 102,400 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — | mistral-large-latest |
| API providers | 3 | 13 (best) | 11 |
| Released | Jul 13, 2024 | Mar 12, 2025 | Feb 26, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jun 30, 2024 | Aug 2024 | Nov 30, 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemma 2 27B$7.80
- Gemma 3 12B IT$0.80
- Mistral Large$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemma 2 27B, Gemma 3 12B IT or Mistral Large?
Gemma 3 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Mistral Large (44) and Gemma 2 27B (35). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B, Gemma 3 12B IT or Mistral Large?
Gemma 3 12B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 12 API providers). Gemma 2 27B costs $0.65 input / $0.65 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers); Mistral Large costs $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.075 per million tokens for Gemma 3 12B IT versus $0.65 for Gemma 2 27B (8.7× as much) and $0.75 for Mistral Large (10× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemma 3 12B IT scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5 (#151 of 165), Gemma 2 27B 122.1 (#152 of 165) and Mistral Large 122.0 (#153 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (116.9–128.4 vs 115.8–124.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5%, Mistral Large 38.8%, Gemma 2 27B 36.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemma 3 12B IT 16.7%, Mistral Large 1.9%, Gemma 2 27B 1.4%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 2 27B, Gemma 3 12B IT and Mistral Large yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemma 3 12B IT leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that Gemma 2 27B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 3 12B IT has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Mistral Large and 8,192 for Gemma 2 27B. Maximum output per response: Gemma 2 27B up to 2,048, Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072, Mistral Large up to 102,400 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemma 2 27B accepts text; Gemma 3 12B IT accepts text and images; Mistral Large accepts text and PDFs. Gemma 3 12B IT handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Gemma 2 27B and Gemma 3 12B IT publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mistral Large is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemma 3 12B IT is the newest, released Mar 12, 2025. Gemma 2 27B came out Jul 13, 2024; Mistral Large came out Feb 26, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 2 27B Jun 30, 2024, Gemma 3 12B IT Aug 2024, Mistral Large Nov 30, 2024.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
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