Grok 3-mini vs Gemma 2 9B (Groq): Pricing, Benchmarks & Verdict (2026)

Pricing verified Apr 8, 2026

⚡ Quick Answer

Compare Grok 3-mini and Gemma 2 9B (Groq) across pricing, benchmarks, and capabilities.

Updated: April 8, 2026 · ✓ Pricing verified

Side-by-Side Comparison

FeatureGrok 3-miniGemma 2 9B (Groq)
ProviderxAIGroq
Input Price / 1M tokens$0.200$0.200
Output Price / 1M tokens$0.800$0.200
Context Window
128K
8K
Max Output Tokens
4,096
4,096
Arena ELO
1,175
1,170
Coding ELO
1,190
1,160
TTFT (ms)
130
150
Tokens/sec
140
100
MultimodalNoNo
JSON ModeYesYes
Function CallingYesYes
VisionNoNo
When to Use Grok 3-mini

Grok 3-mini excels at cost-effective, general-purpose tasks.

Strengths:

  • Very cheap
  • Fast
  • Large context

Best for:

cost-effectivegeneral-purpose
When to Use Gemma 2 9B (Groq)

Gemma 2 9B (Groq) excels at fast-inference, cost-effective tasks.

Strengths:

  • Extremely fast
  • Affordable
  • Good quality for size

Best for:

fast-inferencecost-effective

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