ModelRefs / GPT-5 vs Gemma 3 27B

GPT-5 vs Gemma 3 27B

GPT-5 vs Gemma 3 27B: side-by-side benchmarks, pricing, context windows, coding ability and deployment. Pick the right model for your stack.

Overview

Gemma 3 27B: Gemma 3 27B is the largest model in Google's third-generation open Gemma family, accepting text and images across a 128,000-token input context, with output drawn from the same budget. Images are normalised to 896x896 and encoded as 256 tokens each. Google cites support for more than 140 languages and an August 2024 knowledge cutoff. The weights are published under Google's Gemma Terms of Use rather than a standard open-source licence.

GPT-5: GPT-5 is OpenAI's August 2025 reasoning model for coding, reasoning, and agentic tasks. The API model supports text input and output, image input, configurable reasoning effort, and an immutable gpt-5-2025-08-07 snapshot; OpenAI now classifies it as a previous-generation model.

Context window: Gemma 3 27B accepts up to 128,000 tokens, GPT-5 up to 400,000. Confirm the limit for your specific deployment channel before relying on it.

Gemma 3 27B vs GPT-5 at a glance

AttributeGemma 3 27BGPT-5
ProviderGoogleOpenAI
Released2025-02-012025-08-07
Context window128,000 tokens400,000 tokens
Input price$0.1/M tokens$1.25/M tokens
Output price$0.3/M tokens$10/M tokens
LicenceGemma-TermsProprietary
Self-hostableYes, open weightsNo, hosted only
Modalitiestext, visiontext, vision

Where they differ most

  • Cost Efficiency: Gemma 3 27B 95%, GPT-5 47%. Gemma 3 27B leads on this dimension.
  • Reasoning: Gemma 3 27B 68%, GPT-5 93%. GPT-5 leads on this dimension.

Capability scores are ModelRefs' own derived signals, not vendor claims or benchmark results. Validate against your own workload before relying on them.

Continue your research

Use these connected ModelRefs sections to compare alternatives, inspect implementation paths, and review the evidence and governance boundaries relevant to GPT-5 vs Gemma 3 27B.

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, GPT-5 or Gemma 3 27B?

GPT-5 and Gemma 3 27B target different workloads — see the benchmark and pricing tables for a side-by-side answer.

Is GPT-5 cheaper than Gemma 3 27B?

Compare $0.00125 vs $0.00010 on this page.