Model Comparison

Gemma 2 27B vs Llama 3.1 8B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemma 2 27B vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct — which is better?

Gemma 2 27B (by Google) and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (by Meta) 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 Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (ARC-C, HumanEval). Llama 3.1 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose Gemma 2 27B if…

  • you are already invested in the Google ecosystem

Choose Llama 3.1 8B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2024

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Gemma 2 27B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU), while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (ARC-C, HumanEval).

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Fri Jul 31 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 Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, making it 240.0% larger.

Google
Gemma 2 27B
27.2Bparameters
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
8.0Bparameters
27.2B
Gemma 2 27B
8.0B
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Llama 3.1 8B Instruct specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only Llama 3.1 8B Instruct specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

Google
Gemma 2 27B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Fri Jul 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemma 2 27B is licensed under Gemma, while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct uses Llama 3.1 Community License.

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

Gemma 2 27B

Gemma

Open weights

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 2 27B was released on 2024-06-27, while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is 1 month newer than Gemma 2 27B.

Gemma 2 27B

Jun 27, 2024

2.1 years ago

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

2.0 years ago

3w newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Gemma 2 27B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.1 8B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Gemma 2 27B's cutoff date.

Gemma 2 27B

—

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google
Higher MMLU score (75.2% vs 69.4%)
Meta
Larger context window (131,072 tokens)
Higher ARC-C score (83.4% vs 71.4%)
Higher HumanEval score (72.6% vs 51.8%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemma 2 27B and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemma 2 27B
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 2 27B
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 2 27B vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.

Which is better, Gemma 2 27B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Gemma 2 27B is made by Google and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is made by Meta. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemma 2 27B compare to Llama 3.1 8B Instruct in benchmarks?

Gemma 2 27B scores ARC-E: 88.6%, HellaSwag: 86.4%, BoolQ: 84.8%, TriviaQA: 83.7%, Winogrande: 83.7%. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct scores GSM-8K (CoT): 84.5%, ARC-C: 83.4%, API-Bank: 82.6%, IFEval: 80.4%, BFCL: 76.1%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 2 27B and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Gemma 2 27B supports an unknown number of tokens and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct supports 131K 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 Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (Gemma vs Llama 3.1 Community License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemma 2 27B and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Gemma 2 27B is developed by Google and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is developed by Meta.

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