Gemma 2 27B vs Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct
Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct comes out ahead, 43 to 35 on our weighted score, though Gemma 2 27B is 10% cheaper per token.
GoogleGemma 2 27B
35/100- ECI122.1
- Price$0.65 / $0.65
- Context8K
- Our pick
MetaLlama-3.1-70B-Instruct
43/100- ECI125.9
- Price$0.72 / $0.72
- Context128K
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Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct is our pick
Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 43/100 against Gemma 2 27B (35). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 2 27B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityLlama-3.1-70B-InstructCapabilities Index (ECI): Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 125.9 · Gemma 2 27B 122.1
- Lowest priceGemma 2 27BGemma 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 · Gemma 2 27B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsGemma 2 27B: Text · Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Gemma 2 27B | Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 42 | 47 |
| Price | 25% | 56 | 54 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 0 | 25 |
| Context window | 10% | 0 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 35/100 | 43/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemma 2 27BGoogle | Llama-3.1-70B-InstructMeta |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 122.1 | 125.9 (best) |
| ECI rank | #152 of 165 | #149 of 165 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 36.5% | 44.2% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 1.4% | 3.6% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.65 (best) | $0.72 |
| Output | $0.65 (best) | $0.72 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.65 (best) | $0.72 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 3 providers | Median of 8 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 8,192 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 2,048 tokens | 4,096 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 3 | 8 (best) |
| Released | Jul 13, 2024 | Jul 23, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jun 30, 2024 | Dec 2023 |
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
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemma 2 27B or Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct?
Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 43/100 against Gemma 2 27B (35). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 2 27B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B or Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct?
Gemma 2 27B is cheaper at $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 $0.65 per million tokens for Gemma 2 27B versus $0.72 for Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 125.9 (#149 of 165) and Gemma 2 27B 122.1 (#152 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (120.8–128.2 vs 115.8–124.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 44.2%, Gemma 2 27B 36.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 3.6%, Gemma 2 27B 1.4%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 2 27B and Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 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 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 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 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemma 2 27B accepts text; Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights, 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. 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.
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