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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemma 3 12B IT vs Gemma 3 27B IT vs Mistral Small 3.2

Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemma 3 27B IT 60, Mistral Small 3.2 60, Gemma 3 12B IT 57). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Google

    Gemma 3 12B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI123.5
    • Price$0.05 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 12B IT

  2. Google

    Gemma 3 27B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI130.0
    • Price$0.08 / $0.20
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 27B IT

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Gemma 3 27B IT 60/100, Mistral Small 3.2 60/100, Gemma 3 12B IT 57/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 for raw capability and Gemma 3 12B IT on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.2Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 · Gemma 3 27B IT 130.0 · Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 12B IT $0.075 · Gemma 3 27B IT $0.11 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemma 3 12B IT and Gemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 12B IT 131,072 · Gemma 3 27B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGemma 3 12B IT: Text, Images · Gemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemma 3 12B ITGemma 3 27B ITMistral Small 3.2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%455355
Price25%1009589
Inputs & features15%505050
Context window10%242424
Overall100%57/10060/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Gemma 3 12B IT vs Gemma 3 27B IT vs Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 3 12B ITGoogleGemma 3 27B ITGoogleMistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)123.5130.0131.7 (best)
ECI rank#138 of 148#125 of 148#123 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions39.5%47.7%49.1% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics16.7%22.5%30.3% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.08$0.10
Output$0.15 (best)$0.20$0.30
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.075 (best)$0.11$0.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 7 providersMedian of 9 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)131,072 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)131,072 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID——mistral-small-2506
API providers710 (best)6
ReleasedMar 12, 2025Mar 12, 2025Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Aug 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 3 12B IT$0.80
  • Gemma 3 27B IT$1.20
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemma 3 12B IT, Gemma 3 27B IT or Mistral Small 3.2?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Gemma 3 27B IT 60/100, Mistral Small 3.2 60/100, Gemma 3 12B IT 57/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 for raw capability and Gemma 3 12B IT on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 12B IT, Gemma 3 27B IT or Mistral Small 3.2?

Gemma 3 12B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Gemma 3 27B IT costs $0.08 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers); Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 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 $0.11 for Gemma 3 27B IT (1.5× as much) and $0.15 for Mistral Small 3.2 (2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.2 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 (#123 of 148), Gemma 3 27B IT 130.0 (#125 of 148) and Gemma 3 12B IT 123.5 (#138 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (126.6–133.9 vs 124.1–132.2), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.2 49.1%, Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%, Gemma 3 12B IT 39.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3.2 30.3%, Gemma 3 27B IT 22.5%, Gemma 3 12B IT 16.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 3 12B IT, Gemma 3 27B IT and Mistral Small 3.2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Mistral Small 3.2 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemma 3 12B IT and Gemma 3 27B IT have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Gemma 3 12B IT up to 131,072, Gemma 3 27B IT up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemma 3 12B IT accepts text and images; Gemma 3 27B IT accepts text and images; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemma 3 12B IT came out Mar 12, 2025; Gemma 3 27B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 12B IT Aug 2024, Gemma 3 27B IT Aug 2024, Mistral Small 3.2 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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