Gemma 2 27B vs GLM 4.5 Air
Gemma 2 27B costs 1.7x less per output token than GLM 4.5 Air ($0.65 vs $1.10 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 28 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemma 2 27B or GLM 4.5 Air: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Gemma 2 27B for output tokens 1.7x cheaper ($0.65 vs $1.10 per million) and work measured by LMArena Text: coding or LMArena Text: software and IT, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 28
- Gemma 2 27B only
- 8
- GLM 4.5 Air only
- 20
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only GLM 4.5 Air has a AA Intelligence Index result, 11.1.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only GLM 4.5 Air has a Design Arena: websites result, 1146.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
GLM 4.5 Air
GLM 4.5 Air takes 131K tokens against 8K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
GLM 4.5 Air
Gemma 2 27B $0.0010, GLM 4.5 Air $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemma 2 27B not benchmarked, GLM 4.5 Air not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Reasoning, 31.2 points apart on average over 3 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LMArena Text: Chinese: Gemma 2 27B 1221 against GLM 4.5 Air 1426, 34.2 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemma 2 27B $0.65 against GLM 4.5 Air $1.10 per million output tokens, 1.7x apart.
- Context window
- Gemma 2 27B takes 8K tokens, GLM 4.5 Air 131K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Gemma 2 27B | Bars | GLM 4.5 Air | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 2 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 0 | 17 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 28 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index02
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 68.4% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 20.5% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| GSO-Bench | Not measured | 2.9% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1211 | 1397 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1228 | 1401 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 11.1 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 122.1 | Not measured | Only Gemma 2 27B measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 46.5% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 73.3% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 7.0% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 36.5% | Not measured | Only Gemma 2 27B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1198 | 1379 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1171 | 1370 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1206 | 1388 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | Not measured | 43.0% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 80.7 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 80.7% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 1.4% | Not measured | Only Gemma 2 27B measured |
| MATH level 5 | 27.9% | Not measured | Only Gemma 2 27B measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1212 | 1396 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1221 | 1396 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 68.0% | Not measured | Only Gemma 2 27B measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 81.5% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| MMLU | 75.7% | Not measured | Only Gemma 2 27B measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1228 | 1407 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1198 | 1402 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1241 | 1382 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1208 | 1371 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1146 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1120 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1094 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1186 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1122 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1137 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 1071 | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | Not measured | 37.6% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 46.7% | Only GLM 4.5 Air measured |
| DTBench | 48.0% | Not measured | Only Gemma 2 27B measured |
| LMCA | 7.1% | Not measured | Only Gemma 2 27B measured |
| LMArena Text | 1231 | 1384 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1206 | 1354 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1240 | 1343 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: English | 1242 | 1397 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1217 | 1366 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1221 | 1426 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: German | 1209 | 1377 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1175 | 1348 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1174 | 1308 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: French | 1248 | 1400 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1228 | 1385 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1234 | 1373 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1277 | 1368 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1224 | 1371 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1230 | 1366 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1249 | 1354 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1212 | 1339 | GLM 4.5 Air |
| Neither model has a result on the other 25 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | GLM 4.5 Air | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
GLM 4.5 Air costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
GLM 4.5 Air costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
GLM 4.5 Air costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Google Gemma 2 27B | Z.ai GLM 4.5 Air |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Z.ai | |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | July 13, 2024 | July 25, 2025 |
| Context window | 8K | 131K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.65 | $0.20 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.65 | $1.10 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemma 2 27B better than GLM 4.5 Air for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemma 2 27B for output tokens 1.7x cheaper ($0.65 vs $1.10 per million) and work measured by LMArena Text: coding or LMArena Text: software and IT, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B or GLM 4.5 Air?
Gemma 2 27B costs $0.65 per million input tokens and $0.65 per million output tokens; GLM 4.5 Air costs $0.20 and $1.10. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemma 2 27B or GLM 4.5 Air?
GLM 4.5 Air, with 131K tokens against 8K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemma 2 27B vs GLM 4.5 Air comparison based on?
28 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemma 2 27B's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and GLM 4.5 Air's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.