Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 34.0 to 10.4, and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs 9.4x less per output token ($0.40 vs $3.75 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 18 benchmarks have a result for both.
vs boards won of 18 shared
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash: which to pick
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a coding score, 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite for output tokens 9.4x cheaper ($0.40 vs $3.75 per million).
Model AGemini 2.5 Flash LiteGoogleNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved taskModel BGemini 3.6 FlashGoogle62.5/1004 independent benchmarks$1.49 per solved task
- Shared results
- 18
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite only
- 12
- Gemini 3.6 Flash only
- 91
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 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 3.6 Flash has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 34.0 against 10.4.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a AA Agentic Index result, 29.0.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 93.4% against 70.2%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite has a AIME result, 42.1%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 89.3% against 79.1%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a Design Arena: websites result, 1300.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite $0.0003, Gemini 3.6 Flash $0.0026 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has the number, $1.49.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite not benchmarked, Gemini 3.6 Flash 62.5 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Reasoning, 25.1 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run): Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite 6.8% against Gemini 3.6 Flash 40.8%, 34.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite $0.40 against Gemini 3.6 Flash $3.75 per million output tokens, 9.4x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1.05M tokens.
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 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Bars | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 1 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 4 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 6 | ||
| General | 0 | 5 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 18 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1538 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 69.2 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 71.4% | 88.1% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 79.6% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 30.9% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 35.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 73.8% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 45.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 59.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 53.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierCode | Not measured | 34.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 56.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 715.5 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1491 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1492 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1528 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1547 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1545 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 10.8% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 10.4 | 34.0 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 133.8 | 154.5 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index18 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 29.0 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | Not measured | 1197 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | Not measured | 1181 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | Not measured | 1199 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1203 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building games | Not measured | 1181 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | Not measured | 1148 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1146 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | Not measured | 1034 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 56.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.5% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 19.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 46.9% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 36.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 70.2% | 93.4% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 75.4% | 88.4% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 62.5% | 92.8% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 6.8% | 40.8% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 94.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 91.2% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 60.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 30.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1486 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1490 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1484 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1314 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1314 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 40.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 42.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 89.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| AA Math Index | 53.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 53.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 94.2% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 58.9% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 22.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 36.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1508 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1492 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index06
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 79.1% | 89.3% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 82.0% | 86.7% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 57.6% | 63.3% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 66.2% | 74.9% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 57.6% | 67.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 88.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 34.2% | 53.1% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 75.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 66.2% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1489 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1469 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1479 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1464 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | Not measured | 65.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1300 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1297 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1263 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1289 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1272 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1290 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1281 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 56.6% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 30.8% | 48.7% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 75.8% | 79.7% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 65.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| IFBench | 49.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 55.7% | 80.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| DTBench | 62.8% | 95.5% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMCA | 18.1% | 44.9% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 23.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1480 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1467 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1466 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1299 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1482 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1470 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1531 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1480 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1475 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1429 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1503 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1476 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1488 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1473 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1481 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1475 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1470 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1456 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1295 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1357 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1312 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1289 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1278 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Document | Not measured | 1456 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | 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
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite$0.0003Fits in one request
Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.0026Fits in one request
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite$0.0062Fits in one request
Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.049Fits in one request
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite$0.024Fits in one request
Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.188Fits in one request
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite 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 | Google Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Google Gemini 3.6 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | ||
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | July 22, 2025 | July 21, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.10 | $0.75 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.40 | $3.75 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 62.5 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $1.49 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite better than Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding?
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a coding score, 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite for output tokens 9.4x cheaper ($0.40 vs $3.75 per million).
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 and $3.75. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.6 Flash only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3.6 Flash comparison based on?
18 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Gemini 3.6 Flash's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.