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Head-to-head comparison

Gemma 3 27B vs Phi mini MoE instruct

Gemma 3 27B (Google) and Phi mini MoE instruct (Microsoft) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 22 September 2026

As of 22 September 2026, Phi mini MoE instruct holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#126 vs #127); and Phi mini MoE instruct ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Gemma 3 27B if…

  • you want provider choice — 4 listed API providers against 0.

Choose Phi mini MoE instruct if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #126 against #127 (44.2 vs 43.7 points).
  • you want to self-host: Phi mini MoE instruct ships open weights while Gemma 3 27B is gated access.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Phi mini MoE instruct was listed 23 June 2025, Gemma 3 27B 12 March 2025.

Gemma 3 27B vs Phi mini MoE instruct: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Gemma 3 27B and Phi mini MoE instruct
FieldGemma 3 27BGooglePhi mini MoE instructMicrosoft
ModelCap Index position#127#126
Index score43.744.2
EvidenceMeasuredEstimated
Input price / 1M tokens$0.08Unlisted
Output price / 1M tokens$0.45Unlisted
Context window131K tokens— tokens
Max output tokens118K—
API providers listed40
Weight accessGated accessOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, ImageText
First listed12 March 202523 June 2025
PublisherGoogleMicrosoft

Evidence: 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards · global-corpus-prior over 208 held-out anchors (68%); launch card against 4 resolved peers on 3 rows (32%); exceeds every named peer on 3 of 3 rows; optimism haircut 6.91 from cross-lab-probe; shrunk 27 up toward the measured corpus. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Gemma 3 27B vs Phi mini MoE instruct

Public benchmark boards where Gemma 3 27B or Phi mini MoE instruct has a published result
BoardGemma 3 27BPhi mini MoE instructLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13581351–1365—Only one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)29.5Prompt—Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Gemma 3 27B vs Phi mini MoE instruct: common questions

Is Gemma 3 27B better than Phi mini MoE instruct?

Phi mini MoE instruct ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 22 September 2026: #126 against #127. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Gemma 3 27B cheaper than Phi mini MoE instruct?

At least one of the two has no listed API price on ModelCap right now, so no price comparison is made.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemma 3 27B or Phi mini MoE instruct?

Both publish a 131K-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Gemma 3 27B or Phi mini MoE instruct?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Gemma 3 27B and Phi mini MoE instruct open-weight models?

Gemma 3 27B: Gated access. Phi mini MoE instruct: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Gemma 3 27B and Phi mini MoE instruct?

ModelCap currently lists 4 API providers for Gemma 3 27B and 0 for Phi mini MoE instruct, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Gemma 3 27B vs Phi mini MoE instruct comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 22 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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