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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Gemma 3 27B IT

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

  1. 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

  2. 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

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (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
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT $0.11 · 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 · Gemma 3 27B IT 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Gemma 3 27B IT: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructGemma 3 27B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5253
Price25%7295
Inputs & features15%5050
Context window10%10024
Overall100%62/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Gemma 3 27B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaGemma 3 27B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.7130.0 (best)
ECI rank#126 of 148#125 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.8% (best)47.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%22.5% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.225$0.08 (best)
Output$0.69$0.20 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.341$0.11 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 4 providersMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window10,000,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID——
API providers410 (best)
ReleasedApr 5, 2025Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 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.

  • Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct$3.63
  • Gemma 3 27B IT$1.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (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, 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). 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 $0.341 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) and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 (#126 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%, Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — 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 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. Both 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. Maximum output per response: 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?

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?

Yes, both 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. Knowledge cutoff: 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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