Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Step 3.5 Flash
Updated October 21, 2026. 32 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; Step 3.5 Flash has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Step 3.5 Flash has the edge where output tokens cost 8.3x less, and where the benchmark that matters is Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 32
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only
- 51
- Step 3.5 Flash only
- 3
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads, 22.2 against 17.0.
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
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
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Step 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.0015, Step 3.5 Flash $0.0003 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
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 49.0 from 3 benchmarks, Step 3.5 Flash not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- General, 7.5 points apart on average over 18 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 76.0% against Step 3.5 Flash 63.0%, 13.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $2.50 against Step 3.5 Flash $0.30 per million output tokens, 8.3x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens, Step 3.5 Flash 262K.
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 3.5 Flash Lite | Bars | Step 3.5 Flash | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 4 | 1 | ||
| Math | 2 | 0 | ||
| Knowledge | 4 | 0 | ||
| General | 18 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 31 | 1 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index20
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 75.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 37.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| 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 | 32.6% | Only Step 3.5 Flash measured |
| WeirdML | 39.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ALE-Bench | 765.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1453 | 1436 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1451 | 1434 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| 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 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 21 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 22.2 | 17.0 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 144.9 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | 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 | 94.4% | Only Step 3.5 Flash measured |
| APEX-Agents | 29.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index41
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 83.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 83.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.8% | 83.1% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 18.8% | 24.5% | Step 3.5 Flash |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 83.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ARC-AGI | 53.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 10.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| 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 | 1411 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1434 | 1421 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1440 | 1421 | 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 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1434 | 1408 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1433 | 1421 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 85.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 84.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 60.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 72.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 43.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1451 | 1415 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1438 | 1408 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1431 | 1408 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1423 | 1394 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index180
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | 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 | 66.5% | Only Step 3.5 Flash measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 76.0% | 63.0% | 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 |
| LMArena Text | 1435 | 1403 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1419 | 1385 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1421 | 1357 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Vision | 1269 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1438 | 1417 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1427 | 1385 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1468 | 1446 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: German | 1454 | 1405 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1426 | 1353 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1407 | 1351 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: French | 1451 | 1421 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1441 | 1419 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1443 | 1385 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1437 | 1389 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1445 | 1404 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1435 | 1402 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1428 | 1372 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1414 | 1360 | 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 16 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 3.5 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
Step 3.5 Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Step 3.5 Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Step 3.5 Flash 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 3.5 Flash Lite | StepFun Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | StepFun | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | July 21, 2026 | January 29, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.10 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $0.30 |
| Coding index | 49.0 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 3 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.41 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than Step 3.5 Flash for coding?
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; Step 3.5 Flash has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Step 3.5 Flash has the edge where output tokens cost 8.3x less, and where the benchmark that matters is Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Step 3.5 Flash?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Step 3.5 Flash costs $0.10 and $0.30. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Step 3.5 Flash?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Step 3.5 Flash comparison based on?
32 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 Step 3.5 Flash's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.