ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

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

Too close to call on our weighted score (Mistral Small 3.2 51, Gemma 3 27B IT 49, Mistral Small 3 39). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Google

    Gemma 3 27B IT

    Released Mar 12, 2025

    49/100
    • ECI129.9
    • Price$0.11 / $0.30
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 3 27B IT

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3

    Released Jan 30, 2025

    39/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.05 / $0.08
    • Context33K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025Deprecated

    51/100
    • ECI—
    • 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 2 points (Mistral Small 3.2 51/100, Gemma 3 27B IT 49/100, Mistral Small 3 39/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 for raw capability, Mistral Small 3 on price and Gemma 3 27B IT for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Mistral Small 3 and Mistral Small 3.2 has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityMistral Small 3.2Shared benchmarks: Mistral Small 3.2 39.7% · Gemma 3 27B IT 35.1% · Mistral Small 3 27.0%
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3Mistral Small 3 $0.058 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · Gemma 3 27B IT $0.157 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 · Mistral Small 3 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemma 3 27B IT and Mistral Small 3.2Gemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3: Text · 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 27B ITMistral Small 3Mistral Small 3.2
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%352740
Price25%8410085
Inputs & features15%50050
Context window10%25024
Overall100%49/10039/10051/100
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 Mistral Small 3 vs Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 3 27B ITGoogleMistral Small 3Mistral AIMistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.9——
ECI rank#137 of 165——
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions47.7%47.3%49.1% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics22.5%6.7%30.3% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.11$0.05 (best)$0.10
Output$0.30$0.08 (best)$0.30
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.157$0.058 (best)$0.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 16 providersMedian of 6 providersOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)32,768 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)16,384 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesNoYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID——mistral-small-2506
API providers17 (best)67
ReleasedMar 12, 2025Jan 30, 2025Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Oct 31, 2023Mar 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$1.69
  • Mistral Small 3$0.66
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Mistral Small 3.2 51/100, Gemma 3 27B IT 49/100, Mistral Small 3 39/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 for raw capability, Mistral Small 3 on price and Gemma 3 27B IT for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Mistral Small 3 and Mistral Small 3.2 has no Capabilities Index score yet.

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

Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.08 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Gemma 3 27B IT costs $0.11 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.058 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3 versus $0.15 for Mistral Small 3.2 (2.6× as much) and $0.157 for Gemma 3 27B IT (2.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025): Mistral Small 3.2 39.7%, Gemma 3 27B IT 35.1% and Mistral Small 3 27.0%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Mistral Small 3.2 49.1%, Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%, Mistral Small 3 47.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3.2 30.3%, Gemma 3 27B IT 22.5%, Mistral Small 3 6.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 3 27B IT, Mistral Small 3 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. Note that Mistral Small 3 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

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 3.2 and 32,768 for Mistral Small 3. Maximum output per response: Gemma 3 27B IT up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3 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 accepts text; Mistral Small 3.2 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?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemma 3 27B IT came out Mar 12, 2025; Mistral Small 3 came out Jan 30, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3 27B IT Aug 2024, Mistral Small 3 Oct 31, 2023, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons