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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Small 3.2 vs Gemma 3 27B IT

Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemma 3 27B IT 60, Mistral Small 3.2 60). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. 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

  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 a point (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 Gemma 3 27B IT 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
  • Lowest priceGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT $0.11 · Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemma 3 27B ITGemma 3 27B IT 131,072 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Small 3.2: 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
MeasureWeightMistral Small 3.2Gemma 3 27B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5553
Price25%8995
Inputs & features15%5050
Context window10%2424
Overall100%60/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Small 3.2 vs Gemma 3 27B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3.2Mistral AIGemma 3 27B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)131.7 (best)130.0
ECI rank#123 of 148 (best)#125 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions49.1% (best)47.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics30.3% (best)22.5%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.08 (best)
Output$0.30$0.20 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.15$0.11 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDmistral-small-2506—
API providers610 (best)
ReleasedJun 20, 2025Mar 12, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 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.

  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
  • Gemma 3 27B IT$1.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (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 Gemma 3 27B IT for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, 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). 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).

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) and Gemma 3 27B IT 130.0 (#125 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%, Gemma 3 27B IT 47.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Small 3.2 30.3%, Gemma 3 27B IT 22.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for 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. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

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. Maximum output per response: 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?

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?

Yes, both 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. Knowledge cutoff: 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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