Gemma 3 27B IT vs Mistral Small 3.1 24B vs Mistral Small 3.2
Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemma 3 27B IT 60, Mistral Small 3.2 60, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55). The right pick depends on what you value most.
GoogleGemma 3 27B IT
60/100- ECI130.0
- Price$0.08 / $0.20
- Context131K
Mistral AIMistral Small 3.1 24B
55/100- ECI127.5
- Price$0.229 / $0.436
- Context128K
- Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.2
60/100- ECI131.7
- Price$0.10 / $0.30
- Context128K
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, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 for raw capability, Gemma 3 27B IT on price and Gemma 3 27B IT for long inputs. 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 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5
- Lowest priceGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT $0.11 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B $0.281 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.1 24B 128,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsGemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.1 24B: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Gemma 3 27B IT | Mistral Small 3.1 24B | Mistral Small 3.2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 53 | 50 | 55 |
| Price | 25% | 95 | 76 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 50 | 60 | 50 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 60/100 | 55/100 | 60/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemma 3 27B ITGoogle | Mistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI | Mistral Small 3.2Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 130.0 | 127.5 | 131.7 (best) |
| ECI rank | #125 of 148 | #132 of 148 | #123 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 47.7% | 47.5% | 49.1% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 22.5% | 5.8% | 30.3% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.08 (best) | $0.229 | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.20 (best) | $0.436 | $0.30 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.11 (best) | $0.281 | $0.15 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | Median of 2 providers | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens | 16,384 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | — | mistral-small-2506 |
| API providers | 10 (best) | 2 | 6 |
| Released | Mar 12, 2025 | Mar 17, 2025 | Jun 20, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 2024 | Jun 2024 | Mar 2025 |
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
- Mistral Small 3.1 24B$3.16
- Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemma 3 27B IT, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 55/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 for raw capability, Gemma 3 27B IT on price and Gemma 3 27B IT for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 27B IT, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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); Mistral Small 3.1 24B costs $0.229 input / $0.436 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). 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 $0.281 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B (2.6× 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 Mistral Small 3.1 24B 127.5 (#132 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%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 47.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3.2 30.3%, Gemma 3 27B IT 22.5%, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 5.8%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 3 27B IT, Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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 27B IT has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.1 24B and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Gemma 3 27B IT up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3.1 24B up to 16,384, 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; Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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. Mistral Small 3.1 24B came out Mar 17, 2025; Gemma 3 27B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 27B IT Aug 2024, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Jun 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.
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