DeepSeek V3 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
DeepSeek V3 costs 2.6x less per output token than Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite ($0.9594 vs $2.50 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 4 benchmarks have a result for both.
DeepSeek V3 or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: which to pick
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; DeepSeek V3 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick DeepSeek V3 for output tokens 2.6x cheaper ($0.9594 vs $2.50 per million).
- Shared results
- 4
- DeepSeek V3 only
- 10
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only
- 81
- Like-for-like categories
- 3 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 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a AA Intelligence Index result, 22.2.
Directional only
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a AA Agentic Index result, 14.3.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a GPQA Diamond result, 83.8%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a MMLU Pro result, 85.8%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only DeepSeek V3 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1120.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens against 164K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V3
DeepSeek V3 $0.0008, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.0015 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has the number, $0.41.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- DeepSeek V3 not benchmarked, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 49.0 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Math, 22.2 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- LMCA: DeepSeek V3 15.2% against Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 37.6%, 22.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V3 $0.9594 against Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $2.50 per million output tokens, 2.6x apart.
- Context window
- DeepSeek V3 takes 164K tokens, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 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 | DeepSeek V3 | Bars | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 0 | 1 | ||
| Math | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 0 | 2 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 4 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index19 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aider polyglot | 70.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| SWE-bench Lite | 30.7% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1435 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 49.3 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 79.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 75.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 6.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 59.1% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 41.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 39.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 765.3 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1453 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1451 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1408 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1448 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 6.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 20 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 22.2 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 144.9 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 14.3 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.4% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 7.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 13.9% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 43.2% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 29.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.6% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 18.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 71.2% | 83.3% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 53.5% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 10.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 21.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 19.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1441 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1434 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1440 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1284 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1291 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 52.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 48.9% | 71.1% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 26.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 13.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1434 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1433 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 85.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 84.1% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 60.7% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 72.6% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.7% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 43.5% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1451 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1438 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1431 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1423 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | Not measured | 53.5% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1120 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1093 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1053 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1089 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1087 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1108 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 976 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 51.8% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.3% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 70.9% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 76.0% | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| DTBench | 62.7% | 83.5% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMCA | 15.2% | 37.6% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1435 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1419 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1421 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1269 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1438 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1427 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1468 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1454 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1426 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1407 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1451 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1441 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1443 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1437 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1445 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1435 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1428 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1414 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1269 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1311 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1280 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1287 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1260 | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | 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
DeepSeek V3 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
DeepSeek V3 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
DeepSeek V3 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 | DeepSeek V3 | Google Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | December 26, 2024 | July 21, 2026 |
| Context window | 164K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.2887 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.9594 | $2.50 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 49.0 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.41 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V3 better than Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for coding?
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; DeepSeek V3 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick DeepSeek V3 for output tokens 2.6x cheaper ($0.9594 vs $2.50 per million).
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V3 or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?
DeepSeek V3 costs $0.2887 per million input tokens and $0.9594 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 and $2.50. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V3 or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, with 1.05M tokens against 164K.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V3 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite comparison based on?
4 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. DeepSeek V3's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.