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Gemma 3 27B vs Granite 4.2 8B

Granite 4.2 8B leads Gemma 3 27B on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 11.1 to 4.9, and Granite 4.2 8B costs 1.5x less per output token ($0.20 vs $0.30 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 27 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Gemma 3 27B Replace Granite 4.2 8B
Gemma 3 27BGoogle
Coding
No data
Overall
31.4
Output $/M
$0.30
16
Granite 4.2 8BIBM Granite
Coding
No data
Overall
No data
Output $/M
$0.20
11
vs boards won of 27 shared

Gemma 3 27B or Granite 4.2 8B: which to pick

Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.

Pick Gemma 3 27B for work measured by AA Coding Index or SciCode, where it leads.

Model AGemma 3 27BGoogleNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved taskModel BGranite 4.2 8BIBM GraniteNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved task
Shared results
27
Gemma 3 27B only
39
Granite 4.2 8B only
0
Like-for-like categories
6 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.

At a glance

Coding index
Gemma 3 27B not benchmarked, Granite 4.2 8B not benchmarked.
Widest category
General, 10.2 points apart on average over 12 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Gemma 3 27B 7.3% against Granite 4.2 8B 45.0%, 37.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Gemma 3 27B $0.30 against Granite 4.2 8B $0.20 per million output tokens, 1.5x apart.
Context window
Both take 131K tokens.

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.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryGemma 3 27BBarsGranite 4.2 8BTies
Coding04
Intelligence01
Agentic work01
Reasoning23
Knowledge40
General102
All shared boards1611
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index04
Coding benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
Aider polyglot4.9%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
AA Coding Index10.122.4Granite 4.2 8B
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run)13.7%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
SciCode23.3%31.5%Granite 4.2 8B
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)3.8%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: coding13221378Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Text: software and IT13541367Granite 4.2 8B
SciCode0.0%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Intelligence benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
AA Intelligence Index4.911.1Granite 4.2 8B
Epoch Capabilities Index130.0Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Agentic work benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
AA Agentic Index0.11.3Granite 4.2 8B
τ²-Bench Telecom10.5%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL)29.5%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 39 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index23
Reasoning benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)42.8%63.1%Granite 4.2 8B
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)4.4%9.7%Granite 4.2 8B
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)47.7%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts13401327Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: expert13041386Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English13531345Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Vision: diagrams1156Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: homework1160Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Kagi LLM Benchmark35.1%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
Math benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
AA Math Index20.7Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run)20.7%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
OTIS Mock AIME22.5%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
MATH level 574.0%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: math1312Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: mathematical work1327Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
Knowledge benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run)66.9%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
GeoBench52.0%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: science13831336Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare13911336Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: legal and government13751327Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: business and finance13601322Gemma 3 27B
FACTS Benchmark Suite29.1%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
Neither model has a result on 9 boards here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index102
General benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
IFBench31.8%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)7.3%45.0%Granite 4.2 8B
DTBench52.5%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMCA12.3%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Fiction.LiveBench33.3%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Creative writing (Lech Mazur)79.9%Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text13581319Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: instruction following13211300Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: creative writing13451236Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Vision1165Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: English13771337Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: non-English13341301Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: Chinese13461367Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Text: German1362Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Japanese1287Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Korean1308Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: French1368Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Spanish1349Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Russian13491282Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: Polish1345Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn13451301Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: longer queries13331325Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: writing and language13471269Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Text: entertainment and media13201271Gemma 3 27B
LMArena Vision: English1188Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: Chinese1164Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: reading text1156Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: humor1166Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: captioning1151Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: recognizing things1196Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing1177Not measuredOnly Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
BenchmarkGemma 3 27BGranite 4.2 8BLeader
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

Gemma 3 27B$0.0002Fits in one request
Granite 4.2 8B$0.0002Fits in one request

Granite 4.2 8B costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Gemma 3 27B$0.0049Fits in one request
Granite 4.2 8B$0.0046Fits in one request

Granite 4.2 8B costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Gemma 3 27B$0.019Exceeds the context window
Granite 4.2 8B$0.018Exceeds the context window

Granite 4.2 8B 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.

Specifications of Gemma 3 27B and Granite 4.2 8B
SpecificationGoogle Gemma 3 27BIBM Granite 4.2 8B
MakerGoogleIBM Granite
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weights
ReleasedMarch 12, 2025August 31, 2026
Context window131K131K
Input $/Mtok$0.08$0.08
Output $/Mtok$0.30$0.20
Coding indexNot benchmarkedNot benchmarked
Independent measurements behind it00
Cost per solved taskNot computableNot computable
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Gemma 3 27B better than Granite 4.2 8B for coding?

Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemma 3 27B for work measured by AA Coding Index or SciCode, where it leads.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 27B or Granite 4.2 8B?

Gemma 3 27B costs $0.08 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Granite 4.2 8B costs $0.08 and $0.20. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemma 3 27B or Granite 4.2 8B?

Neither: both take 131K tokens.

How many benchmarks is the Gemma 3 27B vs Granite 4.2 8B comparison based on?

27 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemma 3 27B's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Granite 4.2 8B's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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