# Gemma 2 27B vs Qwen3 Max

> Qwen3 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.7 to 29.4 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 2 27B costs 3.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-2-27b-vs-qwen3-max
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 23

## Summary

- They share 23 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 2 27B scores higher in 0 categories and Qwen3 Max in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3 Max leads 48.1 to 19.0.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 1.4% for Gemma 2 27B and 73.3% for Qwen3 Max.
- Gemma 2 27B is cheaper at $0.65 / $0.65 per million input/output tokens, against $1.20 / $6 for Qwen3 Max.
- Qwen3 Max accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 8K.
- Gemma 2 27B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 29.4 | 43.7 |
| Rank | 312 | 87 |
| Context | 8K | 262K |
| Input $/M | $0.65 | $1.20 |
| Output $/M | $0.65 | $6 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemma 2 27B: 34.1 (#246)
- Qwen3 Max: 43.0 (#93)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1211 | 1456 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 42.8% | — |
| LiveBench Coding | 36% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 52.5% | — |
| ALE-Bench | — | 370.45 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 2 27B: —
- Qwen3 Max: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 71.56 |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 2 27B: 15.3 (#315)
- Qwen3 Max: 22.6 (#190)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1198 | 1448 |
| DTBench | 48% | 82.1% |
| LMCA | 7.1% | 28.3% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 122.08 | 142.38 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 72.5% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 30.1% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 4% |
| LiveBench Reasoning | 28.1% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 5% |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 47.9% | — |
| LiveBench | 38.2% | — |

## Math

- Gemma 2 27B: 10.7 (#311)
- Qwen3 Max: 38.7 (#131)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 1.4% | 73.3% |
| LMArena Math | 1212 | 1446 |
| MATH Level 5 | 27.9% | 97.1% |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | — | 18.9% |
| LiveBench Math | 26.5% | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 2 27B: 19.0 (#280)
- Qwen3 Max: 48.1 (#78)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 36.5% | 72.6% |
| LMArena Expert | 1172 | 1455 |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 48.7% |
| Confabulations | 27.1% | — |
| MMLU | 75.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 2 27B: 38.6 (#226)
- Qwen3 Max: 53.7 (#62)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1217 | 1429 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1221 | 1478 |
| LMArena French | 1247 | 1449 |
| LMArena German | 1209 | 1463 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1175 | 1397 |
| LMArena Korean | 1174 | 1399 |
| LMArena Russian | 1234 | 1428 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1228 | 1462 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 2 27B: 60.5 (#249)
- Qwen3 Max: 74.8 (#87)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1206 | 1419 |
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 58.1% | — |

## Long Context

- Gemma 2 27B: 37.3 (#218)
- Qwen3 Max: 41.6 (#134)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1231 | 1438 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 66.7% |
| CL-bench | — | 14.5% |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 2 27B: 44.2 (#225)
- Qwen3 Max: 62.4 (#76)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1231 | 1439 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1241 | 1402 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1224 | 1446 |
| LiveBench Language | 32.6% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 2 27B better than Qwen3 Max?

Qwen3 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.7 to 29.4 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 2 27B costs 3.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B or Qwen3 Max?

Gemma 2 27B is cheaper. It lists at $0.65 per million input tokens and $0.65 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Max lists at $1.20 and $6.

### Is Gemma 2 27B or Qwen3 Max better for coding?

Qwen3 Max scores higher on coding benchmarks: 43.0 versus 34.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Max does, with 262K tokens against 8K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 2 27B and Qwen3 Max share?

23 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 2 27B has 34 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3 Max has 33.