Gemma 3 27B vs O3 Mini
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
Gemma 3 27B
GoogleGoogle's open-weight 27B model. Budget-friendly with strong coding capability and Google's research backing.
| Input | $0.100/M |
| Output | $0.400/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Self-hosted deployments, budget coding, research |
O3 Mini
OpenAIOpenAI's reasoning model at lower cost. Strong at math, coding, and science tasks.
| Input | $1.10/M |
| Output | $4.40/M |
| Context | 200K tokens |
| Best For | Math, science, coding tasks requiring deep reasoning |
| Benchmark | 80/100 |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | Gemma 3 27B | O3 Mini | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.02 | $0.17 | Gemma 3 27B saves $0.16 (91%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.12 | $1.27 | Gemma 3 27B saves $1.15 (91%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $0.58 | $6.33 | Gemma 3 27B saves $5.75 (91%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.03 | $0.30 | Gemma 3 27B saves $0.27 (91%) |
Verdict
Gemma 3 27B wins on both price and performance — $0.100/M input with a benchmark score of N/A/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
Compare with Other Models
Claude Sonnet 4
AnthropicAnthropic's balanced model for coding and general tasks. Best price-performance ratio in the Claude family.
Claude Opus 4
AnthropicAnthropic's most powerful model. Best for complex reasoning and challenging coding tasks.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
AnthropicPrevious generation Sonnet. Still excellent for coding tasks at the same price point.
Claude 3.5 Haiku
AnthropicFast, cost-effective model for high-volume tasks. Great for code review and simple queries.
Claude 3 Opus
AnthropicFirst generation Opus. Highest reasoning capability in the Claude 3 family.
Claude 3 Sonnet
AnthropicFirst generation Sonnet. Balanced performance for general tasks.