ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 nano vs Mistral Small 3.2 vs Gemma 3 27B IT

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 nano 63, Gemma 3 27B IT 60, Mistral Small 3.2 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. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2

  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 2 points (GPT-4.1 nano 63/100, Gemma 3 27B IT 60/100, Mistral Small 3.2 60/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 for raw capability, Gemma 3 27B IT on price and GPT-4.1 nano 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 · GPT-4.1 nano 129.6
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT $0.11 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · GPT-4.1 nano $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 nanoGPT-4.1 nano 1,047,576 · Gemma 3 27B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-4.1 nano: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images · Gemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2 and Gemma 3 27B ITPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 nanoMistral Small 3.2Gemma 3 27B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%525553
Price25%868995
Inputs & features15%605050
Context window10%612424
Overall100%63/10060/10060/100
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 Mistral Small 3.2 vs Gemma 3 27B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 nanoOpenAIMistral Small 3.2Mistral AIGemma 3 27B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.6131.7 (best)130.0
ECI rank#127 of 148#123 of 148 (best)#125 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions48.9%49.1% (best)47.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics28.9%30.3% (best)22.5%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions6.0%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.10$0.08 (best)
Output$0.40$0.30$0.20 (best)
Cached input$0.025——
Blended (3:1)$0.175$0.15$0.11 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens131,072 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-nanomistral-small-2506—
API providers20 (best)610
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Jun 20, 2025Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Mar 2025Aug 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
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
  • Gemma 3 27B IT$1.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 nano, Mistral Small 3.2 or Gemma 3 27B IT?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GPT-4.1 nano 63/100, Gemma 3 27B IT 60/100, Mistral Small 3.2 60/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Small 3.2 for raw capability, Gemma 3 27B IT on price and GPT-4.1 nano for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 nano, Mistral Small 3.2 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). Mistral Small 3.2 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); GPT-4.1 nano costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). 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 $0.175 for GPT-4.1 nano (1.6× 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 GPT-4.1 nano 129.6 (#127 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%, GPT-4.1 nano 48.9%, Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3.2 30.3%, GPT-4.1 nano 28.9%, Gemma 3 27B IT 22.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 nano, Mistral Small 3.2 and Gemma 3 27B IT 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?

GPT-4.1 nano has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Gemma 3 27B IT and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 nano up to 32,768, Mistral Small 3.2 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; Mistral Small 3.2 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?

Mistral Small 3.2 and Gemma 3 27B IT publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 nano is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. GPT-4.1 nano came out Apr 14, 2025; Gemma 3 27B IT came out Mar 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 nano Apr 2024, Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025, 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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