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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 nano vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Gemma 3 27B IT

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 nano 63, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 62, Gemma 3 27B IT 60). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 nano

    Released Apr 14, 2025Deprecated

    63/100
    • ECI129.6
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 nano

  2. Meta

    Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI129.7
    • Price$0.225 / $0.69
    • Context10M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

  3. 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
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (GPT-4.1 nano 63/100, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 62/100, Gemma 3 27B IT 60/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemma 3 27B IT for raw capability and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct for long inputs. 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 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 · GPT-4.1 nano 129.6
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT $0.11 · GPT-4.1 nano $0.175 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.341 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · GPT-4.1 nano 1,047,576 · Gemma 3 27B IT 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-4.1 nano: Text, Images · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Gemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Gemma 3 27B ITPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 nanoLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructGemma 3 27B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%525253
Price25%867295
Inputs & features15%605050
Context window10%6110024
Overall100%63/10062/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-4.1 nano vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Gemma 3 27B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 nanoOpenAILlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaGemma 3 27B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.6129.7130.0 (best)
ECI rank#127 of 148#126 of 148#125 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions48.9%51.8% (best)47.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics28.9% (best)7.8%22.5%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions6.0%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.225$0.08 (best)
Output$0.40$0.69$0.20 (best)
Cached input$0.025——
Blended (3:1)$0.175$0.341$0.11 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 4 providersMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens10,000,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgpt-4.1-nano——
API providers20 (best)410
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Apr 5, 2025Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Aug 2024Aug 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.

  • GPT-4.1 nano$1.80
  • Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct$3.63
  • Gemma 3 27B IT$1.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 nano, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Gemma 3 27B IT?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (GPT-4.1 nano 63/100, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 62/100, Gemma 3 27B IT 60/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemma 3 27B IT for raw capability and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 nano, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Gemma 3 27B IT?

Gemma 3 27B IT is cheaper at $0.08 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). GPT-4.1 nano costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.225 input / $0.69 output per million tokens (median across 4 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 $0.175 for GPT-4.1 nano (1.6× as much) and $0.341 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (3.1× 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), Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 (#126 of 148) and GPT-4.1 nano 129.6 (#127 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (124.1–132.2 vs 124.8–131.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%, GPT-4.1 nano 48.9%, Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-4.1 nano 28.9%, Gemma 3 27B IT 22.5%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 7.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 nano, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Gemma 3 27B IT 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 1,047,576 for GPT-4.1 nano and 131,072 for Gemma 3 27B IT. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 nano up to 32,768, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Gemma 3 27B IT up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 nano accepts text and images; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images; Gemma 3 27B IT accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Gemma 3 27B IT publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 nano is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-4.1 nano is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025; Gemma 3 27B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 nano Apr 2024, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, Gemma 3 27B IT 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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