Gemma 3 27B IT vs Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Gemma 3 27B IT and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct match in llmrun Score, with values of 79.3 versus 80.4; both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M.
Model B · Alibaba
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct32.8B · 32K context · Apache 2.0 · Sep 2024
Choose Gemma 3 27B IT if you want…
Longer context window
128K vs 32K tokens
Also does vision
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct doesn't list it
Newer release
Mar 2025 vs Sep 2024
Choose Qwen2.5 32B Instruct if you want…
Also does chat, function-calling
Gemma 3 27B IT doesn't list it
More permissive license
Apache 2.0 vs Gemma Terms
On your hardware
Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.
8 GB
RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 11.9 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 13.6 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
IQ2_XXS · ~28 tok/s
11.9 GB · up to 16Kfits
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 13.6 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q2_K_S · ~24 tok/s
15.7 GB · up to 16K
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
IQ2_M · ~25 tok/s
15.7 GB · up to 16K
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~36 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 16Kmore headroom
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Q4_K_M · ~32 tok/stight
24.3 GB · up to 8K
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 32Kfaster
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Q4_K_M · ~57 tok/s
24.3 GB · up to 32K
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~28 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 64Kfaster
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Q4_K_M · ~24 tok/s
24.3 GB · up to 32K
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~5 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 32Kfaster
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Q4_K_M · ~4 tok/s
24.3 GB · up to 16K
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~21 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 128Kfaster
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/s
24.3 GB · up to 32K
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Gemma 3 27B IT
Q4_K_M · ~21 tok/s
21.7 GB · up to 128Kfaster
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Q4_K_M · ~19 tok/s
24.3 GB · up to 32K
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
Gemma 3 27B IT
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
Coding
Gemma 3 27B IT
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
no data
Science
Gemma 3 27B IT
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
no data
Reasoning
Gemma 3 27B IT
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
no data
Gemma 3 27B IT · #78 of 92 open models · #24 of 34 that fit 24 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct · #76 of 92 open models · #23 of 34 that fit 24 GB
Benchmarks
5 shared boards: Gemma 3 27B IT leads 3, Qwen2.5 32B Instruct leads 1 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026
Gemma 3 27B IT
47.7%#56/97 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
46.1%#62/97 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2024
Gemma 3 27B IT
22.5%#51/85 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
7.4%#64/85 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2024
Gemma 3 27B IT
67.5%#43/144 open
IndependentTIGER-Lab
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
69.2%#39/144 open
IndependentTIGER-Lab
Gemma 3 27B IT
74.0%#6/39 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
56.1%#13/39 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2024
Gemma 3 27B IT
0.0%#50/67 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
0.0%#63/67 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2024
7 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
Only Gemma 3 27B IT (7)
- LMArena Text1365.4
- Aider Polyglot4.9%
- SciCode21.2%
- CritPt0.0%
- DTBench52.5%
- LMCA12.3%
- Fiction.LiveBench33.3%
VRAM by quantization
Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.
Q2_K
Gemma 3 27B IT
12.8 GB10.5 GB file
32K 20.6 GB · 128K 45.4 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
14.8 GB12.3 GB file
32K 22.8 GB · 128K —
Q3_K_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
13.2 GB12.2 GB file
32K 21.0 GB · 128K 45.8 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
15.2 GB14.4 GB file
32K 23.2 GB · 128K —
Q3_K_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
14.7 GB13.4 GB file
32K 22.5 GB · 128K 47.3 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
16.8 GB15.9 GB file
32K 24.9 GB · 128K —
Q4_0
Gemma 3 27B IT
15.1 GB15.6 GB file
32K 22.9 GB · 128K 47.7 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
17.2 GB18.6 GB file
32K 25.3 GB · 128K —
Q4_K_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
18.1 GB16.5 GB file
32K 25.9 GB · 128K 50.7 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
20.5 GB19.9 GB file
32K 28.6 GB · 128K —
Q5_K_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
21.5 GB19.3 GB file
32K 29.3 GB · 128K 54.1 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
24.2 GB23.3 GB file
32K 32.2 GB · 128K —
Q6_K
Gemma 3 27B IT
24.9 GB22.2 GB file
32K 32.7 GB · 128K 57.5 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
27.9 GB26.9 GB file
32K 35.9 GB · 128K —
Q8_0
Gemma 3 27B IT
30.2 GB28.7 GB file
32K 37.9 GB · 128K 62.8 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
33.6 GB34.8 GB file
32K 41.7 GB · 128K —
20 more quants
IQ2_XXS
Gemma 3 27B IT
8.3 GB7.9 GB file
32K 16.1 GB · 128K 40.9 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
9.9 GB9.0 GB file
32K 17.9 GB · 128K —
IQ2_XS
Gemma 3 27B IT
9.1 GB8.4 GB file
32K 16.8 GB · 128K 41.7 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
10.7 GB10.0 GB file
32K 18.7 GB · 128K —
IQ2_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
9.4 GB8.8 GB file
32K 17.2 GB · 128K 42.0 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
11.1 GB10.4 GB file
32K 19.1 GB · 128K —
IQ2_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
10.2 GB9.6 GB file
32K 17.9 GB · 128K 42.8 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
11.9 GB11.3 GB file
32K 19.9 GB · 128K —
IQ3_XXS
Gemma 3 27B IT
11.7 GB10.8 GB file
32K 19.5 GB · 128K 44.3 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
13.5 GB12.8 GB file
32K 21.6 GB · 128K —
Q2_K_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
12.1 GB9.8 GB file
32K 19.8 GB · 128K 44.7 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
13.9 GB11.5 GB file
32K 22.0 GB · 128K —
IQ3_XS
Gemma 3 27B IT
12.5 GB11.6 GB file
32K 20.2 GB · 128K 45.1 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
14.4 GB13.7 GB file
32K 22.4 GB · 128K —
IQ3_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
12.8 GB12.2 GB file
32K 20.6 GB · 128K 45.4 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
14.8 GB14.4 GB file
32K 22.8 GB · 128K —
IQ3_M
Gemma 3 27B IT
13.6 GB12.5 GB file
32K 21.3 GB · 128K 46.2 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
15.6 GB14.8 GB file
32K 23.6 GB · 128K —
Q3_K_L
Gemma 3 27B IT
15.5 GB14.5 GB file
32K 23.2 GB · 128K 48.1 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
17.6 GB17.2 GB file
32K 25.7 GB · 128K —
IQ4_XS
Gemma 3 27B IT
16.2 GB14.8 GB file
32K 24.0 GB · 128K 48.8 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
18.5 GB17.7 GB file
32K 26.5 GB · 128K —
IQ4_NL
Gemma 3 27B IT
17.0 GB15.6 GB file
32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
not listed
Q4_1
Gemma 3 27B IT
17.0 GB17.2 GB file
32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
19.3 GB20.6 GB file
32K 27.3 GB · 128K —
Q4_K_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
17.0 GB15.7 GB file
32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
19.3 GB18.8 GB file
32K 27.3 GB · 128K —
Q4_K_L
Gemma 3 27B IT
18.5 GB16.9 GB file
32K 26.2 GB · 128K 51.1 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
20.9 GB20.4 GB file
32K 29.0 GB · 128K —
Q5_0
Gemma 3 27B IT
18.9 GB18.8 GB file
32K 26.6 GB · 128K 51.5 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
21.3 GB22.6 GB file
32K 29.4 GB · 128K —
Q5_1
Gemma 3 27B IT
20.8 GB20.4 GB file
32K 28.5 GB · 128K 53.4 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
not listed
Q5_K_S
Gemma 3 27B IT
20.8 GB18.8 GB file
32K 28.5 GB · 128K 53.4 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
23.4 GB22.6 GB file
32K 31.4 GB · 128K —
Q5_K_L
Gemma 3 27B IT
21.9 GB19.6 GB file
32K 29.6 GB · 128K 54.5 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
24.6 GB23.7 GB file
32K 32.6 GB · 128K —
BF16
Gemma 3 27B IT
60.4 GB54.0 GB file
32K 68.1 GB · 128K 93.0 GB
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
66.4 GB~65.5 GB file
32K 74.4 GB · 128K —
Gemma 3 27B IT
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/MaziyarPanahi/gemma-3-27b-it-GGUF:Q4_K_MQwen2.5 32B Instruct
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/bartowski/Qwen2.5-32B-Instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_M| Spec | Gemma 3 27B IT | Qwen2.5 32B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | Alibaba | |
| Parameters | 27.4B | 32.8B |
| Architecture | — | Qwen2ForCausalLM |
| Context | 128K tokens | 32K tokens |
| Modalities | Vision | Chat, Function-calling |
| License | Gemma Terms | Apache 2.0 |
| Released | Mar 2025 | Sep 2024 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Gemma 3 27B IT or Qwen2.5 32B Instruct?
Gemma 3 27B IT and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct match in llmrun Score, with values of 79.3 versus 80.4; both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M. Choose Gemma 3 27B IT for longer context window and also does vision; choose Qwen2.5 32B Instruct for also does chat, function-calling and more permissive license.
Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 27B IT or Qwen2.5 32B Instruct?
At Q4_K_M, Gemma 3 27B IT requires 18.1 GB while Qwen2.5 32B Instruct needs 20.5 GB, making Gemma 3 27B IT the easier model to run on your local setup.
Which is faster on RTX 4090?
Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 36 tok/s for Gemma 3 27B IT (Q4_K_M) and 32 tok/s for Qwen2.5 32B Instruct (Q4_K_M), so Gemma 3 27B IT is faster. Estimates, ±20%.
Can I run Gemma 3 27B IT or Qwen2.5 32B Instruct on a 16 GB GPU?
Gemma 3 27B IT fits at Q2_K_S; Qwen2.5 32B Instruct fits at IQ2_M.
Which has a longer context window, Gemma 3 27B IT or Qwen2.5 32B Instruct?
Gemma 3 27B IT supports 131,072 tokens and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct supports 32,768 tokens.