ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemma 3 27B IT vs Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct comes out ahead, 61 to 57 and 45 on our weighted score, though Gemma 3 27B IT is 43% cheaper per token.

  1. Google

    Gemma 3 27B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI129.9
    • Price$0.11 / $0.30
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 27B IT

  2. Meta

    Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct

    Released Dec 6, 2024

    45/100
    • ECI127.3
    • Price$0.59 / $0.753
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct
  3. Our pick

    Meta

    Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    61/100
    • ECI129.6
    • Price$0.17 / $0.59
    • Context10M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct
01 — Verdict

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is our pick

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Gemma 3 27B IT (57) and Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (45). It leads on context window. Gemma 3 27B 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 129.9 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.6 · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 127.3
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT $0.157 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.275 · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct $0.631 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · Gemma 3 27B IT 131,072 · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemma 3 27B IT and Llama 4 Scout 17B InstructGemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images · Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct: Text · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemma 3 27B ITLlama-3.3-70B-InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%524951
Price25%845773
Inputs & features15%502550
Context window10%2524100
Overall100%57/10045/10061/100
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 Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 3 27B ITGoogleLlama-3.3-70B-InstructMetaLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMeta
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.9 (best)127.3129.6
ECI rank#137 of 165 (best)#146 of 165#138 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.7%47.4%51.8% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics22.5% (best)5.1%7.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.11 (best)$0.59$0.17
Output$0.30 (best)$0.753$0.59
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.157 (best)$0.631$0.275
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 16 providersMedian of 37 providersMedian of 13 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens128,000 tokens10,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens (best)4,096 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID———
API providers1740 (best)13
ReleasedMar 12, 2025Dec 6, 2024Apr 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Dec 2023Aug 2024
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$1.69
  • Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct$7.41
  • Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct$2.88
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemma 3 27B IT, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct or Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Gemma 3 27B IT (57) and Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (45). It leads on 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, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct or Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct?

Gemma 3 27B IT is cheaper at $0.11 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.17 input / $0.59 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers); Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct costs $0.59 input / $0.753 output per million tokens (median across 37 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.157 per million tokens for Gemma 3 27B IT versus $0.275 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (1.8× as much) and $0.631 for Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct (4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemma 3 27B IT scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemma 3 27B IT 129.9 (#137 of 165), Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.6 (#138 of 165) and Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 127.3 (#146 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (124.2–132.1 vs 125.2–131.2), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%, Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 47.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemma 3 27B IT 22.5%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 7.8%, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct 5.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 3 27B IT, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 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?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct has the largest context window at 10,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Gemma 3 27B IT and 128,000 for Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct. Maximum output per response: Gemma 3 27B IT up to 131,072, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct up to 4,096, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemma 3 27B IT accepts text and images; Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct accepts text; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images. 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?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 5, 2025. Gemma 3 27B IT came out Mar 12, 2025; Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct came out Dec 6, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 27B IT Aug 2024, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct Dec 2023, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons