Qwen3 8B vs Gemma 3 27B it

Qwen3 8B and Gemma 3 27B it both score 5 on the intelligence index. The cheapest machine here that runs Gemma 3 27B it is the Framework Desktop, 32GB, at $1,269. Qwen3 8B runs on the Mac mini M6, 16GB at $899, $370 less. On the Framework Desktop, 32GB, the cheapest machine here that runs both, Qwen3 8B is about 1.9× quicker: 19 tok/s against 9.8, both estimated from memory bandwidth. At 500k tokens a day the Framework Desktop, 32GB pays for itself in 54 years running Qwen3 8B, against 155 years running Gemma 3 27B it.

Run Qwen3 8B on the Mac mini M6, 16GB · or Gemma 3 27B it on the Framework Desktop, 32GB

Ratings are coarse on purpose: they say what a model is usable for, not where it places to the decimal.

Jump to: Side by side on the Framework Desktop, 32GB · How much use it takes to pay for the machine · Machines that run one and not the other · The assumptions behind both columns

Side by side on the Framework Desktop, 32GB

The table above gives each model the cheapest machine that runs it, and those are two different machines, so nothing in it is a like-for-like race. The Strix Halo Framework Desktop, 32GB is the cheapest machine here that runs both, so this is the pair doing the same work on the same hardware.

Run Qwen3 8B on the Framework Desktop, 32GB · or Gemma 3 27B it

How much use it takes to pay for the machine

Everything above is at 500k tokens a day. Pay-back moves with how much you actually run, so here are both models at the five levels of use the calculator names, on the Framework Desktop, 32GB. Qwen3 8B pays for it sooner at every level of use, so which of them to run does not turn on how hard you work it.

The Framework Desktop, 32GB generates at most 13.5M tokens a day on Gemma 3 27B it, so that column's figure at 20M tokens a day is for the most it can do, not for the whole of what was asked.

Run Qwen3 8B at 20M tokens a day · or Gemma 3 27B it

Machines that run one and not the other

Qwen3 8B needs 9.9 GB of memory at 32k of context and Gemma 3 27B it needs 20 GB. That puts Qwen3 8B on 7 of the 37 machines priced here that Gemma 3 27B it does not, starting at $899.

1 more, on the Qwen3 8B page.

Qwen3 8B is also head to head with Ministral 3 14B above it on the leaderboard and Qwen3.5 9B, the current Qwen nearest it in size. Two more models need much the same memory: Granite 4.2 8B and Gemma 3 12B it. Gemma 3 27B it is also head to head with Ministral 3 8B below it on the leaderboard and Gemma 4 31B it, the current Gemma nearest it in size. Three more models need much the same memory: Qwen3.6 27B, Devstral Small 2 24B and Mistral Small 3.2 24B Instruct.

The assumptions behind both columns

Both columns use the same usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k of context, $0.17 per kWh, and today's API prices held flat. Speeds marked estimated are worked out from memory bandwidth rather than measured, and pay-back scales with them. Where nobody rents an open model by the token, its API prices are the nearest hosted model's, named beside them. Machines are the 37 here with a published price that are still sold. Change any of it in the calculator.

More head to head: every machine that runs Qwen3 8B · every machine that runs Gemma 3 27B it · every other match-up · both against the frontier · the quickest pay-back at each level of use