Model Comparison

Gemma 2 27B vs Gemma 3n E4B InstructedWhich is better in 2026?

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemma 2 27B vs Gemma 3n E4B Instructed — which is better?

Gemma 2 27B (by Google) and Gemma 3n E4B Instructed (by Google) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Gemma 2 27B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU), while Gemma 3n E4B Instructed is better at 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MBPP). Gemma 3n E4B Instructed shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose Gemma 2 27B if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Gemma 3n E4B Instructed if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Gemma 2 27B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU), while Gemma 3n E4B Instructed is better at 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MBPP).

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

19.2B diff

Gemma 2 27B has 19.2B more parameters than Gemma 3n E4B Instructed, making it 240.0% larger.

Google
Gemma 2 27B
27.2Bparameters
Google
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed
8.0Bparameters
27.2B
Gemma 2 27B
8.0B
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Gemma 3n E4B Instructed specifies input context (32,000 tokens). Only Gemma 3n E4B Instructed specifies output context (32,000 tokens).

Google
Gemma 2 27B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Google
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed
Input32,000 tokens
Output32,000 tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed supports multimodal inputs, whereas Gemma 2 27B does not.

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemma 2 27B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemma 2 27B is licensed under Gemma, while Gemma 3n E4B Instructed uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Gemma 2 27B

Gemma

Open weights

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 2 27B was released on 2024-06-27, while Gemma 3n E4B Instructed was released on 2025-06-26.

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed is 12 months newer than Gemma 2 27B.

Gemma 2 27B

Jun 27, 2024

2.1 years ago

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Jun 26, 2025

1.1 years ago

12mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Gemma 2 27B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemma 3n E4B Instructed's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Gemma 2 27B's cutoff date.

Gemma 2 27B

—

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google
Has open weights
Higher MMLU score (75.2% vs 64.9%)
Google
Larger context window (32,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher HumanEval score (75.0% vs 51.8%)
Higher MBPP score (63.6% vs 62.6%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemma 2 27B and Gemma 3n E4B Instructed side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemma 2 27B
✓ Preferred
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 2 27B
Google
Gemma 3n E4B Instructed

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 2 27B vs Gemma 3n E4B Instructed.

Which is better, Gemma 2 27B or Gemma 3n E4B Instructed?

Gemma 3n E4B Instructed shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Gemma 2 27B is made by Google and Gemma 3n E4B Instructed is made by Google. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemma 2 27B compare to Gemma 3n E4B Instructed in benchmarks?

Gemma 2 27B scores ARC-E: 88.6%, HellaSwag: 86.4%, BoolQ: 84.8%, TriviaQA: 83.7%, Winogrande: 83.7%. Gemma 3n E4B Instructed scores HumanEval: 75.0%, MGSM: 67.0%, MMLU: 64.9%, Global-MMLU-Lite: 64.5%, MBPP: 63.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 2 27B and Gemma 3n E4B Instructed?

Gemma 2 27B supports an unknown number of tokens and Gemma 3n E4B Instructed supports 32K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemma 2 27B and Gemma 3n E4B Instructed?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Gemma vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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