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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemma 3 27B IT vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 3.2

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 71 to 60 and 60 on our weighted score, though Gemma 3 27B IT is 37% cheaper per token.

  1. 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
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    71/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  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

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Gemma 3 27B IT (60) and Mistral Small 3.2 (60). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 3 27B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 · Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 · Gemma 3 27B IT 130.0
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT $0.11 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Gemma 3 27B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingGemma 3 27B IT and Mistral Small 3.2Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemma 3 27B ITGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMistral Small 3.2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%535855
Price25%958689
Inputs & features15%5010050
Context window10%246124
Overall100%60/10071/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Gemma 3 27B IT vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 3 27B ITGoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleMistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)130.0133.9 (best)131.7
ECI rank#125 of 148#118 of 148 (best)#123 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.7%—49.1% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics22.5%—30.3% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.08 (best)$0.10$0.10
Output$0.20 (best)$0.40$0.30
Cached input—$0.01—
Blended (3:1)$0.11 (best)$0.175$0.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial Google APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)65,536 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoYesNo
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningNoYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryOpen
API model ID—gemini-2.5-flash-litemistral-small-2506
API providers1020 (best)6
ReleasedMar 12, 2025Jun 17, 2025Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Jan 2025Mar 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 27B IT$1.20
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemma 3 27B IT, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 3.2?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Gemma 3 27B IT (60) and Mistral Small 3.2 (60). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 3 27B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 27B IT, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Mistral Small 3.2?

Gemma 3 27B IT is cheaper at $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); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.11 per million tokens for Gemma 3 27B IT versus $0.15 for Mistral Small 3.2 (1.4× as much) and $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148), Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 (#123 of 148) and Gemma 3 27B IT 130.0 (#125 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (129.8–136.3 vs 126.6–133.9), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 3 27B IT, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Mistral Small 3.2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Gemma 3 27B IT and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Gemma 3 27B IT up to 131,072, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemma 3 27B IT accepts text and images; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Gemma 3 27B IT and Mistral Small 3.2 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025; Gemma 3 27B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 27B IT Aug 2024, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, 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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