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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemma 2 27B vs Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct vs WizardLM 2 8x22B

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct comes out ahead, 42 to 38 and 32 on our weighted score, though WizardLM 2 8x22B is 32% cheaper per token.

  1. Google

    Gemma 2 27B

    Released Jul 13, 2024

    32/100
    • ECI122.1
    • Price$0.65 / $0.65
    • Context8K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 2 27B
  2. Our pick

    Meta

    Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    42/100
    • ECI125.9
    • Price$0.72 / $0.72
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct

  3. Microsoft

    WizardLM 2 8x22B

    Released Apr 15, 2024

    38/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.493 / $0.493
    • Context66K
    Full specs Remove WizardLM 2 8x22B
01 — Verdict

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct is our pick

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 42/100 against WizardLM 2 8x22B (38) and Gemma 2 27B (32). It leads on inputs & features and context window. WizardLM 2 8x22B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because WizardLM 2 8x22B has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityLlama-3.1-70B-InstructShared benchmarks: Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 44.2% · WizardLM 2 8x22B 43.4% · Gemma 2 27B 36.5%
  • Lowest priceWizardLM 2 8x22BWizardLM 2 8x22B $0.493 · Gemma 2 27B $0.65 · Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct $0.72 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama-3.1-70B-InstructLlama-3.1-70B-Instruct 128,000 · WizardLM 2 8x22B 65,536 · Gemma 2 27B 8,192 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGemma 2 27B: Text · Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct: Text · WizardLM 2 8x22B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemma 2 27BLlama-3.1-70B-InstructWizardLM 2 8x22B
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%364443
Price25%565462
Inputs & features15%0250
Context window10%02412
Overall100%32/10042/10038/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemma 2 27B vs Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct vs WizardLM 2 8x22B specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 2 27BGoogleLlama-3.1-70B-InstructMetaWizardLM 2 8x22BMicrosoft
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)122.1125.9 (best)—
ECI rank#152 of 165#149 of 165 (best)—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions36.5%44.2% (best)43.4%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.4%3.6% (best)—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.65$0.72$0.493 (best)
Output$0.65$0.72$0.493 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.65$0.72$0.493 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersMedian of 8 providersMedian of 3 providers
Limits
Context window8,192 tokens128,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Max output2,048 tokens4,096 tokens8,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingNoYesNo
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model ID———
API providers38 (best)3
ReleasedJul 13, 2024Jul 23, 2024Apr 15, 2024
Knowledge cutoffJun 30, 2024Dec 2023—
03 — Cost

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
  • Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct$8.64
  • WizardLM 2 8x22B$5.92
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemma 2 27B, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct or WizardLM 2 8x22B?

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 42/100 against WizardLM 2 8x22B (38) and Gemma 2 27B (32). It leads on inputs & features and context window. WizardLM 2 8x22B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because WizardLM 2 8x22B has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct or WizardLM 2 8x22B?

WizardLM 2 8x22B is cheaper at $0.493 input / $0.493 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). Gemma 2 27B costs $0.65 input / $0.65 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers); Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct costs $0.72 input / $0.72 output per million tokens (median across 8 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.493 per million tokens for WizardLM 2 8x22B versus $0.65 for Gemma 2 27B (1.3× as much) and $0.72 for Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond): Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 44.2%, WizardLM 2 8x22B 43.4% and Gemma 2 27B 36.5%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 44.2%, WizardLM 2 8x22B 43.4%, Gemma 2 27B 36.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 2 27B, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct and WizardLM 2 8x22B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that Gemma 2 27B and WizardLM 2 8x22B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 65,536 for WizardLM 2 8x22B and 8,192 for Gemma 2 27B. Maximum output per response: Gemma 2 27B up to 2,048, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct up to 4,096, WizardLM 2 8x22B up to 8,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemma 2 27B accepts text; Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct accepts text; WizardLM 2 8x22B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct is the newest, released Jul 23, 2024. Gemma 2 27B came out Jul 13, 2024; WizardLM 2 8x22B came out Apr 15, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 2 27B Jun 30, 2024, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct Dec 2023.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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