Gemma 3 27B vs MiniMax M2.1

MiniMax M2.1 leads Gemma 3 27B on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 20.9 to 4.9, and Gemma 3 27B costs 4.0x less per output token ($0.30 vs $1.20 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 11 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Gemma 3 27B Replace MiniMax M2.1

Gemma 3 27BGoogle

Coding: No data
Overall: 31.4
Output $/M: $0.30

MiniMax M2.1MiniMax

Coding: No data
Overall: No data
Output $/M: $1.20

vs boards won of 11 shared

Gemma 3 27B or MiniMax M2.1: which to pick

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

Pick Gemma 3 27B for output tokens 4.0x cheaper ($0.30 vs $1.20 per million) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) or Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.

Model AGemma 3 27BGoogleNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved task Model BMiniMax M2.1MiniMaxNot benchmarked1 independent benchmark$0.59 per solved task

115523

Shared results: 11
Gemma 3 27B only: 55
MiniMax M2.1 only: 23
Like-for-like categories: 7 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
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 leads, 20.9 against 4.9.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemma 3 27B has a AA Agentic Index result, 0.1.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a GPQA Diamond result, 78.5%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a AIME result, 77.9%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a MMLU Pro result, 87.0%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1201.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 takes 205K tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemma 3 27B
Gemma 3 27B $0.0002, MiniMax M2.1 $0.0009 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has the number, $0.59.
Directional only

At a glance

Coding index: Gemma 3 27B not benchmarked, MiniMax M2.1 not benchmarked.
Widest category: Agentic work, 74.9 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
Widest single gap: τ²-Bench Telecom: Gemma 3 27B 10.5% against MiniMax M2.1 85.4%, 74.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price: Gemma 3 27B $0.30 against MiniMax M2.1 $1.20 per million output tokens, 4.0x apart.
Context window: Gemma 3 27B takes 131K tokens, MiniMax M2.1 205K.

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
Category	Gemma 3 27B	Bars	MiniMax M2.1	Ties
Coding	0		2
Intelligence	0		1
Agentic work	0		1
Reasoning	0		2
Math	0		2
Knowledge	0		1
General	0		2
All shared boards	0		11

CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index02

Coding benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
Aider polyglot	4.9%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
AA Coding Index	10.1	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)	Not measured	81.8%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)	Not measured	74.8%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run)	13.7%	81.0%	MiniMax M2.1
SciCode	23.3%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)	3.8%	28.8%	MiniMax M2.1
Terminal-Bench	Not measured	36.6%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
ALE-Bench	Not measured	623.8	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
LMArena Text: coding	1322	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: software and IT	1354	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
SciCode	0.0%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here

IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01

Intelligence benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
AA Intelligence Index	4.9	20.9	MiniMax M2.1
Epoch Capabilities Index	130.0	Not measured	Only 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 MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
AA Agentic Index	0.1	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
τ²-Bench Telecom	10.5%	85.4%	MiniMax M2.1
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL)	29.5%	Not measured	Only 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 index02

Reasoning benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
GPQA Diamond	Not measured	78.5%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	42.8%	83.0%	MiniMax M2.1
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)	4.4%	23.2%	MiniMax M2.1
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)	47.7%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts	1340	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: expert	1304	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English	1353	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: diagrams	1156	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: homework	1160	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Kagi LLM Benchmark	35.1%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here

MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02

Math benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
AIME	Not measured	77.9%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
MATH 500 (Vals AI)	Not measured	89.0%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
MGSM (Vals AI)	Not measured	87.8%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
AA Math Index	20.7	82.7	MiniMax M2.1
AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run)	20.7%	82.7%	MiniMax M2.1
OTIS Mock AIME	22.5%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
MATH level 5	74.0%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: math	1312	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: mathematical work	1327	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here

KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01

Knowledge benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
MMLU Pro	Not measured	87.0%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
LegalBench (Vals AI)	Not measured	75.5%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
CaseLaw (Vals AI)	Not measured	55.8%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)	Not measured	58.9%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)	Not measured	66.3%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
MedQA (Vals AI)	Not measured	91.2%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)	Not measured	34.1%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run)	66.9%	87.5%	MiniMax M2.1
GeoBench	52.0%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: science	1383	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare	1391	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: legal and government	1375	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: business and finance	1360	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
FACTS Benchmark Suite	29.1%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here

Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared

Web design benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
Design Arena: websites	Not measured	1201	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
Design Arena: UI components	Not measured	1220	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
Design Arena: game dev	Not measured	1134	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
Design Arena: data viz	Not measured	1206	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
Design Arena: 3D	Not measured	1164	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
Design Arena: all code categories	Not measured	1190	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
Design Arena: SVG	Not measured	1131	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here

GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02

General benchmarks for Gemma 3 27B and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
MedScribe (Vals AI)	Not measured	80.8%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
IFBench	31.8%	69.9%	MiniMax M2.1
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)	7.3%	67.7%	MiniMax M2.1
DTBench	52.5%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMCA	12.3%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Fiction.LiveBench	33.3%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Creative writing (Lech Mazur)	79.9%	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text	1358	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: instruction following	1321	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: creative writing	1345	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision	1165	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: English	1377	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: non-English	1334	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Chinese	1346	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: German	1362	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Japanese	1287	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Korean	1308	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: French	1368	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Spanish	1349	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Russian	1349	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: Polish	1345	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn	1345	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: longer queries	1333	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: writing and language	1347	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Text: entertainment and media	1320	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: English	1188	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: Chinese	1164	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: reading text	1156	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: humor	1166	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: captioning	1151	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: recognizing things	1196	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing	1177	Not measured	Only Gemma 3 27B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 16 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 MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1	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

Gemma 3 27B$0.0002Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1$0.0009Fits in one request

Gemma 3 27B costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Gemma 3 27B$0.0049Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1$0.019Fits in one request

Gemma 3 27B costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Gemma 3 27B$0.019Exceeds the context window

MiniMax M2.1$0.072Exceeds the context window

Gemma 3 27B 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 MiniMax M2.1
Specification	Google Gemma 3 27B	MiniMax M2.1
Maker	Google	MiniMax
Weights	Open weights	Open weights
Released	March 12, 2025	December 23, 2025
Context window	131K	205K
Input $/Mtok	$0.08	$0.30
Output $/Mtok	$0.30	$1.20
Coding index	Not benchmarked	Not benchmarked
Independent measurements behind it	0	1
Cost per solved task	Not computable	$0.59
Source	OpenRouter listing	OpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Gemma 3 27B better than MiniMax M2.1 for coding?

Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemma 3 27B for output tokens 4.0x cheaper ($0.30 vs $1.20 per million) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) or Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 27B or MiniMax M2.1?

Gemma 3 27B costs $0.08 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; MiniMax M2.1 costs $0.30 and $1.20. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M2.1 only.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemma 3 27B or MiniMax M2.1?

MiniMax M2.1, with 205K tokens against 131K.

How many benchmarks is the Gemma 3 27B vs MiniMax M2.1 comparison based on?

11 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemma 3 27B's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and MiniMax M2.1's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

Gemma 3 27B or MiniMax M2.1: which to pick

Which one for your work

Coding

Intelligence

Agentic work

Reasoning

Math

Knowledge

Web design

Long documents

Everyday cost

Cost per solved task

At a glance

Benchmark by benchmark

What each workload costs

Chat turn

Repository review

Agent loop

Specification differences

Questions

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