Gemma 3 27B IT vs Gemma 3 4B IT vs Ministral 3B
Gemma 3 27B IT comes out ahead, 60 to 53 and 49 on our weighted score, though Gemma 3 4B IT is 43% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
GoogleGemma 3 27B IT
60/100- ECI130.0
- Price$0.08 / $0.20
- Context131K
- Google
Gemma 3 4B IT
53/100- ECI116.1
- Price$0.05 / $0.10
- Context131K
Mistral AIMinistral 3B
49/100- ECI118.1
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context128K
Gemma 3 27B IT is our pick
Gemma 3 27B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Gemma 3 4B IT (53) and Ministral 3B (49). It leads on capability. Gemma 3 4B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemma 3 27B ITCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemma 3 27B IT 130.0 · Ministral 3B 118.1 · Gemma 3 4B IT 116.1
- Lowest priceGemma 3 4B ITGemma 3 4B IT $0.063 · Ministral 3B $0.10 · Gemma 3 27B IT $0.11 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemma 3 27B IT and Gemma 3 4B ITGemma 3 27B IT 131,072 · Gemma 3 4B IT 131,072 · Ministral 3B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemma 3 27B IT and Gemma 3 4B ITGemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images · Gemma 3 4B IT: Text, Images · Ministral 3B: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Gemma 3 27B IT | Gemma 3 4B IT | Ministral 3B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 53 | 35 | 38 |
| Price | 25% | 95 | 100 | 97 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 50 | 50 | 25 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 60/100 | 53/100 | 49/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemma 3 27B ITGoogle | Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle | Ministral 3BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 130.0 (best) | 116.1 | 118.1 |
| ECI rank | #125 of 148 (best) | #146 of 148 | #144 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 47.7% (best) | 23.2% | 25.3% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 22.5% (best) | 7.5% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.08 | $0.05 (best) | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.20 | $0.10 (best) | $0.10 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.11 | $0.063 (best) | $0.10 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | Median of 7 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | — | — |
| API providers | 10 (best) | 7 | 1 |
| Released | Mar 12, 2025 | Mar 12, 2025 | Oct 16, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 2024 | Aug 2024 | Mar 2024 |
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
- Gemma 3 4B IT$0.70
- Ministral 3B$1.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemma 3 27B IT, Gemma 3 4B IT or Ministral 3B?
Gemma 3 27B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Gemma 3 4B IT (53) and Ministral 3B (49). It leads on capability. Gemma 3 4B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 27B IT, Gemma 3 4B IT or Ministral 3B?
Gemma 3 4B IT is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 7 API providers). Ministral 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Gemma 3 27B IT costs $0.08 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.063 per million tokens for Gemma 3 4B IT versus $0.10 for Ministral 3B (1.6× as much) and $0.11 for Gemma 3 27B IT (1.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemma 3 27B IT scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemma 3 27B IT 130.0 (#125 of 148), Ministral 3B 118.1 (#144 of 148) and Gemma 3 4B IT 116.1 (#146 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (124.1–132.2 vs 107.4–121.8), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%, Ministral 3B 25.3%, Gemma 3 4B IT 23.2%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 3 27B IT, Gemma 3 4B IT and Ministral 3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemma 3 27B IT 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 27B IT and Gemma 3 4B IT have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 128,000 for Ministral 3B. Maximum output per response: Gemma 3 27B IT up to 131,072, Gemma 3 4B IT up to 131,072, Ministral 3B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemma 3 27B IT accepts text and images; Gemma 3 4B IT accepts text and images; Ministral 3B accepts text. Gemma 3 27B IT handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Gemma 3 27B IT is the newest, released Mar 12, 2025. Gemma 3 4B IT came out Mar 12, 2025; Ministral 3B came out Oct 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 27B IT Aug 2024, Gemma 3 4B IT Aug 2024, Ministral 3B Mar 2024.
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.
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