ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemma 2 27B vs Mixtral 8x22B Instruct vs Solar Pro 2

Solar Pro 2 comes out ahead, 51 to 28 and 26 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Google

    Gemma 2 27B

    Released Jul 13, 2024

    28/100
    • ECI122.1
    • Price$0.65 / $0.65
    • Context8K
  2. Mistral AI

    Mixtral 8x22B Instruct

    Released Apr 17, 2024

    26/100
    • ECI122.0
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context66K
  3. Our pick

    Upstage

    Solar Pro 2

    Released May 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.25
    • Context66K
01 — Verdict

Solar Pro 2 is our pick

Solar Pro 2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Gemma 2 27B (28) and Mixtral 8x22B Instruct (26). It leads on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceSolar Pro 2Solar Pro 2 $0.25 · Gemma 2 27B $0.65 · Mixtral 8x22B Instruct $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMixtral 8x22B Instruct and Solar Pro 2Mixtral 8x22B Instruct 65,536 · Solar Pro 2 65,536 · Gemma 2 27B 8,192 tokens
  • Widest inputsMixtral 8x22B InstructGemma 2 27B: Text · Mixtral 8x22B Instruct: Text, PDFs · Solar Pro 2: Text
  • Self-hostingGemma 2 27B and Mixtral 8x22B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemma 2 27BMixtral 8x22B InstructSolar Pro 2
Price50%562675
Inputs & features30%03535
Context window20%01212
Overall100%28/10026/10051/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

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 Mixtral 8x22B Instruct vs Solar Pro 2 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 2 27BGoogleMixtral 8x22B InstructMistral AISolar Pro 2Upstage
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)122.1 (best)122.0—
ECI rank#152 of 165 (best)#155 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions36.5% (best)34.1%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.4%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.65$2.00$0.25 (best)
Output$0.65$6.00$0.25 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.65$3.00$0.25 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersMedian of 5 providersOfficial Upstage API
Limits
Context window8,192 tokens65,536 tokens (best)65,536 tokens (best)
Max output2,048 tokens52,428 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoYesminimal · high
Tool callingNoYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenProprietary
API model ID——solar-pro2
API providers35 (best)2
ReleasedJul 13, 2024Apr 17, 2024May 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJun 30, 2024Jan 31, 2024Mar 2025
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
  • Mixtral 8x22B Instruct$32.00
  • Solar Pro 2$3.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemma 2 27B, Mixtral 8x22B Instruct or Solar Pro 2?

Solar Pro 2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Gemma 2 27B (28) and Mixtral 8x22B Instruct (26). It leads on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B, Mixtral 8x22B Instruct or Solar Pro 2?

Solar Pro 2 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.25 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). Gemma 2 27B costs $0.65 input / $0.65 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers); Mixtral 8x22B Instruct costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.25 per million tokens for Solar Pro 2 versus $0.65 for Gemma 2 27B (2.6× as much) and $3.00 for Mixtral 8x22B Instruct (12× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemma 2 27B has an ECI of 122.1, Mixtral 8x22B Instruct has an ECI of 122.0 and Solar Pro 2 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 2 27B, Mixtral 8x22B Instruct and Solar Pro 2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Gemma 2 27B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Mixtral 8x22B Instruct and Solar Pro 2 have the largest context windows (65,536 and 65,536 tokens), against 8,192 for Gemma 2 27B. Maximum output per response: Gemma 2 27B up to 2,048, Mixtral 8x22B Instruct up to 52,428, Solar Pro 2 up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemma 2 27B accepts text; Mixtral 8x22B Instruct accepts text and PDFs; Solar Pro 2 accepts text. Mixtral 8x22B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Gemma 2 27B and Mixtral 8x22B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Solar Pro 2 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Solar Pro 2 is the newest, released May 20, 2025. Gemma 2 27B came out Jul 13, 2024; Mixtral 8x22B Instruct came out Apr 17, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 2 27B Jun 30, 2024, Mixtral 8x22B Instruct Jan 31, 2024, Solar Pro 2 Mar 2025.

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.