Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads Gemini 3 Flash Preview on coding, 49.0 to 43.7 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs 1.2x less per output token ($2.50 vs $3.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 39 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Replace Gemini 3 Flash Preview

Gemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogle

Coding: 49.0
Overall: 49.8
Output $/M: $2.50

Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle

Coding: 43.7
Overall: 55.0
Output $/M: $3.00

vs boards won of 39 shared, 2 tied

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Gemini 3 Flash Preview: which to pick

Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for coding: it scores 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index against 43.7 for Gemini 3 Flash Preview.

Pick Gemini 3 Flash Preview for a lower cost per solved task ($0.37 against $0.41) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) or Code migration (Vals AI), where it leads.

Model AGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogle49.0/1003 independent benchmarks$0.41 per solved task Model BGemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle43.7/1002 independent benchmarks$0.37 per solved task

394632

Shared results: 39
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only: 46
Gemini 3 Flash Preview only: 32
Like-for-like categories: 7 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
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite scores 49.0 against 43.7.
3 and 2 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads, 26.3 against 22.2.
Same board, both measured
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
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads, 87.9% against 83.8%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a AIME result, 95.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads, 88.6% against 85.8%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a Design Arena: websites result, 1196.
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 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.0015, Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.0020 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.41, Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.37.
Published attempt cost and pass rate

At a glance

Coding index: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 49.0 from 3 benchmarks, Gemini 3 Flash Preview 43.7 from 2 benchmarks.
Widest category: Math, 17.2 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap: ARC-AGI: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 53.5% against Gemini 3 Flash Preview 84.7%, 31.2 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $2.50 against Gemini 3 Flash Preview $3.00 per million output tokens, 1.2x 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.

Boards won, where both have a result
Category	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Ties
Coding	1	6	2 ties
Intelligence	0	1
Agentic work	2	2
Reasoning	0	9
Math	0	4
Knowledge	0	7
General	1	4
All shared boards	4	33	2 ties

CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index16

Coding benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Leader
SWE-bench Verified	Not measured	75.8%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
LMArena WebDev	1435	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
AA Coding Index	49.3	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)	79.0%	85.6%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)	75.0%	75.0%	Tie
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)	37.2%	20.2%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Code migration (Vals AI)	6.2%	6.4%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
ProgramBench (Vals AI)	0.0%	0.0%	Tie
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)	50.2%	53.9%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
CyberBench (Vals AI)	59.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	90.8%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
SciCode	41.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	38.6%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Terminal-Bench	Not measured	64.3%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
GSO-Bench	Not measured	9.8%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
WeirdML	39.0%	61.6%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
ALE-Bench	765.3	1367.2	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
LMArena Text: coding	1453	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: software and IT	1451	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena WebDev: React	1408	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena WebDev: from an image	1448	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
SciCode	6.2%	12.7%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here

IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01

Intelligence benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Leader
AA Intelligence Index	22.2	26.3	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Epoch Capabilities Index	144.9	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured

Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index22

Agentic work benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Leader
AA Agentic Index	14.3	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Design Arena: agents building web apps	Not measured	1110	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps	Not measured	1063	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps	Not measured	1090	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Design Arena: agents building Android apps	Not measured	1050	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Design Arena: agents building Godot games	Not measured	1161	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides	Not measured	1036	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)	47.4%	42.5%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)	7.2%	11.8%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)	13.9%	18.3%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)	43.2%	26.0%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
τ²-Bench Telecom	Not measured	80.4%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
APEX-Agents	29.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
BALROG	Not measured	48.1%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
DeepResearch Bench	Not measured	49.8%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Vending-Bench 2	Not measured	$3,635	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Neither model has a result on the other 25 boards here

ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index09

Reasoning benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Leader
GPQA Diamond	83.8%	87.9%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)	83.6%	87.6%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	83.8%	89.8%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)	18.8%	36.6%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)	83.3%	89.4%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
ARC-AGI	53.5%	84.7%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
ARC-AGI-2	10.3%	33.6%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
SimpleBench	Not measured	61.1%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Chess puzzles	21.0%	39.0%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Mystery game puzzles	19.0%	26.0%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
VPCT	Not measured	72.6%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts	1441	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: expert	1434	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English	1440	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Vision: diagrams	1284	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Vision: homework	1291	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here

MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04

Math benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Leader
AIME	Not measured	95.6%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
MGSM (Vals AI)	Not measured	93.3%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
AA Math Index	Not measured	97.0	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	97.0%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
OTIS Mock AIME	71.1%	95.6%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3	26.0%	51.2%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
FrontierMath, tier 4	0.0%	17.1%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
ProofBench	13.0%	15.0%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
LMArena Text: math	1434	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: mathematical work	1433	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here

KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index07

Knowledge benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Leader
MMLU Pro	85.8%	88.6%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
LegalBench (Vals AI)	84.1%	86.9%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
CaseLaw (Vals AI)	Not measured	55.8%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)	60.7%	66.4%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
TaxEval (Vals AI)	72.6%	73.9%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
MortgageTax (Vals AI)	68.7%	68.7%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
MedQA (Vals AI)	Not measured	95.8%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
MedCode (Vals AI)	43.5%	55.9%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	89.0%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
SimpleQA Verified	Not measured	66.8%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
GeoBench	Not measured	88.0%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
LMArena Text: science	1451	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare	1438	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: legal and government	1431	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: business and finance	1423	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
FACTS Benchmark Suite	53.5%	63.4%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here

Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared

Web design benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Leader
Design Arena: websites	Not measured	1196	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Design Arena: game dev	Not measured	1166	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Design Arena: 3D	Not measured	1184	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Design Arena: all code categories	Not measured	1189	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here

GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index14

General benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash Preview	Leader
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)	51.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
SAGE (Vals AI)	47.3%	51.8%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
MedScribe (Vals AI)	70.9%	69.9%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Vals Multimodal Index	Not measured	52.2%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
IFBench	Not measured	78.0%	Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)	76.0%	78.0%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
DTBench	83.5%	89.1%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
LMCA	37.6%	43.1%	Gemini 3 Flash Preview
LMArena Text	1435	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: instruction following	1419	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: creative writing	1421	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Vision	1269	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: English	1438	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: non-English	1427	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: Chinese	1468	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: German	1454	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: Japanese	1426	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: Korean	1407	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: French	1451	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: Spanish	1441	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: Russian	1443	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: Polish	1437	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn	1445	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: longer queries	1435	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: writing and language	1428	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: entertainment and media	1414	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Vision: English	1269	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Vision: Chinese	1311	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Vision: reading text	1280	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Vision: humor	1287	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing	1260	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here

Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared

Image generation benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Gemini 3 Flash 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

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$0.0015Fits in one request

Gemini 3 Flash Preview$0.0020Fits in one request

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$0.022Fits in one request

Gemini 3 Flash Preview$0.034Fits in one request

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$0.085Fits in one request

Gemini 3 Flash Preview$0.130Fits in one request

Gemini 3.5 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.

Specifications of Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Specification	Google Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	Google Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Maker	Google	Google
Weights	No public weights listed	No public weights listed
Released	July 21, 2026	December 17, 2025
Context window	1.05M	1.05M
Input $/Mtok	$0.30	$0.50
Output $/Mtok	$2.50	$3.00
Coding index	49.0	43.7
Independent measurements behind it	3	2
Cost per solved task	$0.41	$0.37
Source	OpenRouter listing	OpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than Gemini 3 Flash Preview for coding?

Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for coding: it scores 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index against 43.7 for Gemini 3 Flash Preview. Pick Gemini 3 Flash Preview for a lower cost per solved task ($0.37 against $0.41) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) or Code migration (Vals AI), where it leads.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Gemini 3 Flash Preview?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Gemini 3 Flash Preview costs $0.50 and $3.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.41 and Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.37.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Gemini 3 Flash Preview?

Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.

How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview comparison based on?

39 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Gemini 3 Flash Preview's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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<iframe src="https://llmbenchmark.ai/embed/compare/gemini-3-5-flash-lite-vs-gemini-3-flash-preview" title="Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview, LLMBenchmark.ai" width="100%" height="360" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif;margin:6px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://llmbenchmark.ai/compare/gemini-3-5-flash-lite-vs-gemini-3-flash-preview">LLMBenchmark.ai, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview</a></p>

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Gemini 3 Flash Preview: which to pick

Which one for your work

Coding

Intelligence

Agentic work

Reasoning

Math

Knowledge

Web design

Long documents

Everyday cost

Cost per solved task

At a glance

Benchmark by benchmark

What each workload costs

Chat turn

Repository review

Agent loop

Specification differences

Questions

Compare next