API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Gemma 3 27B

Pick Gemma 3 27B for lower cost; pick DeepSeek V4 Pro only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T18:08:02Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Gemma 3 27B for lower cost; pick DeepSeek V4 Pro only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 3 27B is estimated at $0.16 vs $0.87 for DeepSeek V4 Pro, saving $0.71 (81.6% lower).

Cost-first pickGemma 3 27B

Context-first pickDeepSeek V4 Pro

Sample savings$0.7181.6%

10x traffic gap$7.1

DeepSeek V4 Pro has more context, but Gemma 3 27B saves $0.71 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $7.1. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Gemma 3 27B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	DeepSeek V4 Pro	Gemma 3 27B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Gemma 3 27B	$2.61	$0.48
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Gemma 3 27B	$1.3	$0.24
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Gemma 3 27B	$4.78	$0.88

Cheaper input Gemma 3 27B $0.435 vs $0.08 / 1M

Gemma 3 27B is $0.35 cheaper per 1M input tokens (81.6% lower; 5.44x difference).

Cheaper output Gemma 3 27B $0.87 vs $0.16 / 1M

Gemma 3 27B is $0.71 cheaper per 1M output tokens (81.6% lower; 5.44x difference).

Larger context DeepSeek V4 Pro 1.05M vs 131.07K

DeepSeek V4 Pro has 917.5K more context (8x larger).

Sample workload Gemma 3 27B $0.87 vs $0.16

Gemma 3 27B is $0.71 cheaper on the standard workload (81.6% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

DeepSeek V4 Pro Calculating… Estimated API cost

Gemma 3 27B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Gemma 3 27B has the lower input price; Gemma 3 27B has the lower output price; DeepSeek V4 Pro offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Gemma 3 27B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.87 for DeepSeek V4 Pro and $0.16 for Gemma 3 27B.

Best Fit

Choose DeepSeek V4 Pro when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Gemma 3 27B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 3 27B is estimated at $0.16 vs $0.87 for DeepSeek V4 Pro, saving $0.71 (81.6% lower).
Gemma 3 27B is $0.71 cheaper on the standard workload (81.6% lower).
Gemma 3 27B is $0.35 cheaper per 1M input tokens (81.6% lower; 5.44x difference).
Gemma 3 27B is $0.71 cheaper per 1M output tokens (81.6% lower; 5.44x difference).
DeepSeek V4 Pro has 917.5K more context (8x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥DeepSeek V4 Pro (DeepSeek)	Gemma 3 27B (Google)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.435	$0.08
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.87	$0.16
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.87	$0.16
Context Window	1.05M	131.07K
Release Date	2026-04-24	2025-03-12
Popularity	#6	#86

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Gemma 3 27B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 3 27B is estimated at $0.16 vs $0.87 for DeepSeek V4 Pro, saving $0.71 (81.6% lower).
High-volume input processing	Gemma 3 27B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Gemma 3 27B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	DeepSeek V4 Pro	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
DeepSeek V4 Flash can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.2.
R1 Distill Qwen 32B can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.43.
DeepSeek V3.2 can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.44.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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DeepSeek catalog

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Google catalog

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DeepSeek V4 Pro

DeepSeek V4 Pro is a large-scale Mixture-of-Experts model from DeepSeek with 1.6T total parameters and 49B activated parameters, supporting a 1M-token context window. It is designed for advanced reasoning, coding,...

Gemma 3 27B

Gemma 3 introduces multimodality, supporting vision-language input and text outputs. It handles context windows up to 128k tokens, understands over 140 languages, and offers improved math, reasoning, and chat capabilities,...