Codestral 2508 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
Codestral 2508 costs 1.7x less per output token than Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview ($0.90 vs $1.50 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 7 benchmarks have a result for both.
Codestral 2508 or Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview: which to pick
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a coding score, 22.7 on the Vibe Coding Index; Codestral 2508 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Codestral 2508 for output tokens 1.7x cheaper ($0.90 vs $1.50 per million).
- Shared results
- 7
- Codestral 2508 only
- 1
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview only
- 72
- Like-for-like categories
- 2 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AA Intelligence Index result, 15.6.
Directional only
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AA Agentic Index result, 1.6.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a GPQA Diamond result, 81.1%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AIME result, 83.3%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a MMLU Pro result, 86.2%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview leads, 1082 against 1012.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview takes 1.05M tokens against 256K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Codestral 2508
Codestral 2508 $0.0008, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has the number, $0.18.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Codestral 2508 not benchmarked, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 22.7 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 22.0 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- ALE-Bench: Codestral 2508 137.8 against Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 797.7, 22.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Codestral 2508 $0.90 against Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $1.50 per million output tokens, 1.7x apart.
- Context window
- Codestral 2508 takes 256K tokens, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 1.05M.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Codestral 2508 | Bars | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 1 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 6 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 7 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index01
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1257 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 34.7 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 80.1% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 62.8% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.6% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 34.1% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| ALE-Bench | 137.8 | 797.7 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1400 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1413 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1245 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1276 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1336 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 4.6% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 15.6 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 1.6 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 30.0% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 3.1% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 3.4% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 8.6% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 81.1% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 82.5% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1407 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1398 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1403 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1242 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1271 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 32.5% | Not measured | Only Codestral 2508 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | Not measured | 83.3% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1428 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1417 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 86.2% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 55.0% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 59.4% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 71.8% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.0% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.6% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1425 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1428 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1418 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1389 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | Not measured | 51.4% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index06
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1012 | 1082 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1014 | 1069 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Design Arena: game dev | 967 | 1029 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1017 | 1045 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1019 | 1047 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1007 | 1072 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 1052 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1167 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index28 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 49.5% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 63.9% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 41.4% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1416 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1377 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1401 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1240 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1414 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1410 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1460 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1430 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1413 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1392 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1424 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1421 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1420 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1443 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1417 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1394 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1408 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1386 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1232 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1278 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1246 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1266 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | Not measured | 1259 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | Not measured | 1308 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1248 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Codestral 2508 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Codestral 2508 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Mistral Codestral 2508 | Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Mistral AI | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | August 1, 2025 | March 3, 2026 |
| Context window | 256K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.25 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.90 | $1.50 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 22.7 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.18 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Codestral 2508 better than Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview for coding?
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a coding score, 22.7 on the Vibe Coding Index; Codestral 2508 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Codestral 2508 for output tokens 1.7x cheaper ($0.90 vs $1.50 per million).
Which is cheaper, Codestral 2508 or Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview?
Codestral 2508 costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $0.90 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs $0.25 and $1.50. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview only.
Which has the bigger context window, Codestral 2508 or Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview, with 1.05M tokens against 256K.
How many benchmarks is the Codestral 2508 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview comparison based on?
7 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Codestral 2508's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.