ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

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

Too close to call on our weighted score (Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51, Gemma 3 27B IT 49, Mistral Small 3 39). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Meta

    Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI129.6
    • Price$0.17 / $0.59
    • Context10M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

  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. 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
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51/100, Gemma 3 27B IT 49/100, Mistral Small 3 39/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemma 3 27B IT for raw capability, Mistral Small 3 on price and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 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 has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityGemma 3 27B ITShared benchmarks: Gemma 3 27B IT 35.1% · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 29.8% · Mistral Small 3 27.0%
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3Mistral Small 3 $0.058 · Gemma 3 27B IT $0.157 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.275 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 · Mistral Small 3 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Gemma 3 27B ITLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3: Text · 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 InstructMistral Small 3Gemma 3 27B IT
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%302735
Price25%7310084
Inputs & features15%50050
Context window10%100025
Overall100%51/10039/10049/100
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 Mistral Small 3 vs Gemma 3 27B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaMistral Small 3Mistral AIGemma 3 27B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.6—129.9 (best)
ECI rank#138 of 165—#137 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.8% (best)47.3%47.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%6.7%22.5% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.17$0.05 (best)$0.11
Output$0.59$0.08 (best)$0.30
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.275$0.058 (best)$0.157
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 13 providersMedian of 6 providersMedian of 16 providers
Limits
Context window10,000,000 tokens (best)32,768 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoNo
Tool callingYesNoYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID———
API providers13617 (best)
ReleasedApr 5, 2025Jan 30, 2025Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Oct 31, 2023Aug 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$2.88
  • Mistral Small 3$0.66
  • Gemma 3 27B IT$1.69
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51/100, Gemma 3 27B IT 49/100, Mistral Small 3 39/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemma 3 27B IT for raw capability, Mistral Small 3 on price and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 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 has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct, Mistral Small 3 or Gemma 3 27B IT?

Mistral Small 3 is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.08 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). Gemma 3 27B IT costs $0.11 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers); Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.17 input / $0.59 output per million tokens (median across 13 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 $0.157 for Gemma 3 27B IT (2.7× as much) and $0.275 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (4.8× 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): Gemma 3 27B IT 35.1%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 29.8% and Mistral Small 3 27.0%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%, Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%, Mistral Small 3 47.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemma 3 27B IT 22.5%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 7.8%, Mistral Small 3 6.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct, Mistral Small 3 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. Note that Mistral Small 3 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

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 and 32,768 for Mistral Small 3. Maximum output per response: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Mistral Small 3 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; Mistral Small 3 accepts text; Gemma 3 27B IT accepts text and images. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 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?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 5, 2025. Gemma 3 27B IT came out Mar 12, 2025; Mistral Small 3 came out Jan 30, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, Mistral Small 3 Oct 31, 2023, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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