Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax M2.5

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads MiniMax M2.5 on coding, 49.0 to 37.2 on the Vibe Coding Index, and MiniMax M2.5 costs 2.1x less per output token ($1.20 vs $2.50 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 47 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Replace MiniMax M2.5

Gemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogle

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

MiniMax M2.5MiniMax

Coding: 37.2
Overall: 37.3
Output $/M: $1.20

vs boards won of 47 shared

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax M2.5: which to pick

Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for coding: it scores 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index against 37.2 for MiniMax M2.5.

Pick MiniMax M2.5 for output tokens 2.1x cheaper ($1.20 vs $2.50 per million) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) or AA Intelligence Index, where it leads.

Model AGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogle49.0/1003 independent benchmarks$0.41 per solved task Model BMiniMax M2.5MiniMax37.2/1003 independent benchmarks$0.62 per solved task

473821

Shared results: 47
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only: 38
MiniMax M2.5 only: 21
Like-for-like categories: 6 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 37.2.
3 benchmarks behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
MiniMax M2.5
MiniMax M2.5 leads, 22.8 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 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads, 83.8% against 82.1%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only MiniMax M2.5 has a AIME result, 88.8%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads, 85.8% against 80.1%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only MiniMax M2.5 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1222.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2.5
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.0015, MiniMax M2.5 $0.0009 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.41, MiniMax M2.5 $0.62.
Published attempt cost and pass rate

At a glance

Coding index: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 49.0 from 3 benchmarks, MiniMax M2.5 37.2 from 3 benchmarks.
Widest category: General, 15.5 points apart on average over 18 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap: LMArena Text: Japanese: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1426 against MiniMax M2.5 1171, 42.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $2.50 against MiniMax M2.5 $1.20 per million output tokens, 2.1x apart.
Context window: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens, MiniMax M2.5 205K.

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	MiniMax M2.5
Coding	7	1
Intelligence	0	2
Reasoning	5	3
Math	3	0
Knowledge	8	0
General	18	0
All shared boards	41	6

CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index71

Coding benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	Leader
SWE-bench Verified	Not measured	75.8%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
SWE-bench Multilingual	Not measured	68.3%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
LMArena WebDev	1435	1386	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
AA Coding Index	49.3	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)	79.0%	79.2%	MiniMax M2.5
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)	75.0%	74.2%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)	37.2%	14.8%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Code migration (Vals AI)	6.2%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
ProgramBench (Vals AI)	0.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)	50.2%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)	59.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
SciCode	41.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	34.8%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Terminal-Bench	Not measured	42.7%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
WeirdML	39.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
ALE-Bench	765.3	618.2	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: coding	1453	1380	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: software and IT	1451	1383	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena WebDev: React	1408	1374	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena WebDev: HTML	Not measured	1414	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
LMArena WebDev: from an image	1448	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
SciCode	6.2%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here

IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02

Intelligence benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	Leader
AA Intelligence Index	22.2	22.8	MiniMax M2.5
Epoch Capabilities Index	144.9	146.6	MiniMax M2.5

Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared

Agentic work benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	Leader
AA Agentic Index	14.3	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)	47.4%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)	7.2%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)	13.9%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)	43.2%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
τ²-Bench Telecom	Not measured	95.3%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
APEX-Agents	29.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Vending-Bench 2	Not measured	-$23	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here

ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index53

Reasoning benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	Leader
GPQA Diamond	83.8%	82.1%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)	83.6%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	83.8%	84.8%	MiniMax M2.5
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)	18.8%	20.5%	MiniMax M2.5
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)	83.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
ARC-AGI	53.5%	63.7%	MiniMax M2.5
ARC-AGI-2	10.3%	4.9%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Chess puzzles	21.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Mystery game puzzles	19.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts	1441	1372	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: expert	1434	1378	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English	1440	1384	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
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
Kagi LLM Benchmark	Not measured	55.2%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here

MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30

Math benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	Leader
AIME	Not measured	88.8%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
OTIS Mock AIME	71.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3	26.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
FrontierMath, tier 4	0.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
ProofBench	13.0%	4.0%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: math	1434	1378	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: mathematical work	1433	1378	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here

KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index80

Knowledge benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	Leader
MMLU Pro	85.8%	80.1%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LegalBench (Vals AI)	84.1%	80.0%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
CaseLaw (Vals AI)	Not measured	53.5%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)	60.7%	59.6%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
TaxEval (Vals AI)	72.6%	68.2%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
MortgageTax (Vals AI)	68.7%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
MedQA (Vals AI)	Not measured	92.5%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)	43.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: science	1451	1369	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare	1438	1357	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: legal and government	1431	1366	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: business and finance	1423	1356	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
FACTS Benchmark Suite	53.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here

Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared

Web design benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	Leader
Design Arena: websites	Not measured	1222	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Design Arena: UI components	Not measured	1173	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Design Arena: game dev	Not measured	1176	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Design Arena: data viz	Not measured	1172	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Design Arena: 3D	Not measured	1170	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Design Arena: all code categories	Not measured	1207	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Design Arena: SVG	Not measured	1150	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here

GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index180

General benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	Leader
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)	51.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
SAGE (Vals AI)	47.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)	70.9%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
IFBench	Not measured	71.6%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)	76.0%	73.3%	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
DTBench	83.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMCA	37.6%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
CL-bench	Not measured	11.4%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
CL-bench Life	Not measured	6.3%	Only MiniMax M2.5 measured
LMArena Text	1435	1359	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: instruction following	1419	1353	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: creative writing	1421	1331	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Vision	1269	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured
LMArena Text: English	1438	1380	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: non-English	1427	1338	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: Chinese	1468	1393	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: German	1454	1361	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: Japanese	1426	1171	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: Korean	1407	1233	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: French	1451	1363	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: Spanish	1441	1353	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: Russian	1443	1359	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: Polish	1437	1334	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: multi-turn	1445	1364	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: longer queries	1435	1366	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: writing and language	1428	1345	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
LMArena Text: entertainment and media	1414	1329	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
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 14 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 MiniMax M2.5
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5	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

MiniMax M2.5$0.0009Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.5 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$0.022Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.5$0.019Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.5 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$0.085Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.5$0.072Exceeds the context window

MiniMax M2.5 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 MiniMax M2.5
Specification	Google Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite	MiniMax M2.5
Maker	Google	MiniMax
Weights	No public weights listed	Open weights
Released	July 21, 2026	February 12, 2026
Context window	1.05M	205K
Input $/Mtok	$0.30	$0.30
Output $/Mtok	$2.50	$1.20
Coding index	49.0	37.2
Independent measurements behind it	3	3
Cost per solved task	$0.41	$0.62
Source	OpenRouter listing	OpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than MiniMax M2.5 for coding?

Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for coding: it scores 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index against 37.2 for MiniMax M2.5. Pick MiniMax M2.5 for output tokens 2.1x cheaper ($1.20 vs $2.50 per million) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) or AA Intelligence Index, where it leads.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax M2.5?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; MiniMax M2.5 costs $0.30 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.41 and MiniMax M2.5 $0.62.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax M2.5?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.

How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax M2.5 comparison based on?

47 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and MiniMax M2.5's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax M2.5: 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

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