Gemma 3 27B vs Mistral Small 24B
Size, context window, license, approximate VRAM and the minimum local hardware each model needs — computed from our catalog and compatibility engine, not benchmarks.
| Gemma 3 27B | Mistral Small 24B | |
|---|---|---|
| Parameters | 27B | 24B |
| Context window | 128K tokens | 32K tokens |
| License | Gemma Terms of Use | Apache-2.0 |
| ~VRAM @ 4-bit (Q4_K_M) | ~17 GB | ~14 GB |
| ~VRAM @ 8-bit (Q8_0) | ~29 GB | ~25 GB |
| Minimum device | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | Intel Arc A770 16GB |
| Recommended device | Supermicro 8x H100 SuperServer | Supermicro 8x H100 SuperServer |
| Deployment | Hybrid | Local / on-prem |
| Capabilities | Vision, Multilingual, Long context | Tools, Code, Multilingual, Long context |
Highlighted cells mark the lighter / longer / more permissive side per row, for local deployment. Informational rows have no winner.
Bottom line
Mistral Small 24B (~24B) is lighter than Gemma 3 27B (~27B), so it runs on more modest hardware, while Gemma 3 27B trades a larger footprint for more capacity. At 4-bit, Mistral Small 24B needs about 14GB versus ~17GB, a meaningful gap when choosing a GPU. Gemma 3 27B advertises the longer context window (128K vs 32K), which helps with long documents. Mistral Small 24B's Apache-2.0 license is the more permissive of the two for commercial use. Minimum viable hardware differs: Gemma 3 27B starts on a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, Mistral Small 24B on a Intel Arc A770 16GB. Figures are approximate working-set estimates, not benchmarks — verify the exact release before committing hardware.
Pick Gemma 3 27B if you have the memory to spare and want the larger model, or you need the longer 128K context window.
Pick Mistral Small 24B if you want the lighter footprint and cheaper hardware, or you want the more permissive Apache-2.0 license.
A 24GB card (RTX 3090/4090) or 32GB+ Mac at 4-bit. The flagship Gemma 3 with long context and vision.
A 24GB card at 4-bit. A capable, openly-licensed mid-size model between 14B and 32B.
Run the winner on hardware you control
Pick the model that fits your footprint, then turn the right machine into a private AI Business OS — no per-seat data leaving your premises.