Model comparison

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Gemini 3.6 Flash

Two Google tiers compared on the figures that decide which one a workload actually needs.

Catalog record checked September 26, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below

Google

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

Budget

Google

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Balanced

AI model capability comparison
Specification	Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Provider
Provider	Google	Google
Tier
Tier	Budget	Balanced
Context window
Context window	1.05M	1.05M
Max output
Max output	66K	66K
Input / 1M tokens
Input / 1M tokens	Winner: $0.25	$0.75
Output / 1M tokens
Output / 1M tokens	Winner: $1.50	$3.75
Weights
Weights	Closed	Closed
Parameters
Parameters	Not disclosedUnverified	Not disclosedUnverified
Reasoning levels
Reasoning levels	Not verifiedUnverified	low, medium, high
Modalities
Modalities	text, image, video, audio, pdf	text, image, video, audio, pdf
API model id
API model id	gemini-3.1-flash-lite	gemini-3.6-flash
Released
Released	May 7, 2026	July 21, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)	15.6	Not verifiedUnverified
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index [high] (2026-09-26)
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index [high] (2026-09-26)	Not verifiedUnverified	34
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (2026-07)
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (2026-07)	Not verifiedUnverified	78
DeepSWE 1.1 (2026-07)
DeepSWE 1.1 (2026-07)	Not verifiedUnverified	48.6
Humanity's Last Exam (2026-08)
Humanity's Last Exam (2026-08)	Not verifiedUnverified	51.2

Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

2026-09-26
Artificial Analysis
Composite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score.
Comparable with caveatOnly same-version scores are comparable. v4.3.2 was rebaselined (the top score fell from 66 on v4.1.1 to ~58), so v4.1.1 figures must not be compared with v4.3.2 figures — check measuredAt.
2026-08
Google DeepMind model evaluation report (vendor, HLE-Verified full set)
Frontier-knowledge ceiling: extremely hard multi-domain questions written to be near-impossible without deep expertise.
Comparable with caveatSubset/tool configurations (text-only vs with-tools) differ between vendors and materially change scores; must match configuration to compare.
2026-07
Google DeepMind model evaluation report (vendor, quoting Datacurve leaderboard; 3.7 report shows 49 — rounding conflict preserved)
Agentic terminal work: multi-step tasks executed in a sandboxed shell environment.
Comparable with caveatNot comparable with Terminal-Bench 3.0 or 4.0 (different task sets) or v1; harness configuration (container, time limits) also shifts results.

Pricing tiers

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: $0.25 input (text, image, video; $0.50 audio) / $1.50 output per MTok; cached input $0.025. GA 2026-05-07 after a 2026-03-03 preview; shutdown no earlier than 2027-05-07.

Gemini 3.6 Flash: $0.75/$3.75 per MTok (intro through 2026-12-31, then $1.50/$7.50). Multimodal input.

BudgetRecord checked September 26, 2026

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is Google's cheapest current Gemini API model for high-volume, latency-sensitive pipelines.

Best for

High-volume extraction
Classification
Cheap multimodal input

Watch out

Google recommends 3.5 Flash-Lite for new work, and 3.1 Flash-Lite's earliest shutdown date is 2027-05-07; well behind Flash models on reasoning.

BalancedRecord checked September 26, 2026

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash is Google's balanced multimodal Flash tier with a 1M-token context.

Best for

Multimodal pipelines
High-volume processing
Video and audio input

Watch out

Superseded by 3.7 Flash on quality; still a solid mid-tier.

When the cheaper one wins

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is cheaper on output at $1.50 per million tokens against $3.75 for Gemini 3.6 Flash — about 2.5×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. These are standard-tier API rates, excluding batch and cache discounts.

Run the model picker

Evidence confidence: High

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
3/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: parameter count, reasoning levels.
1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 2 days ago.
Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Gemini API pricing (gemini-3.1-flash-lite $0.25/$1.50) (accessed 2026-09-26)
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Gemini API — gemini-3.1-flash-lite model card (accessed 2026-09-26)
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Gemini API deprecations (earliest shutdown 2027-05-07) (accessed 2026-09-26)
Gemini 3.6 Flash: Google — Gemini 3.6 Flash (accessed 2026-08-29)
Gemini 3.6 Flash: Google Cloud Gemini pricing (accessed 2026-08-29)

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite · Gemini 3.6 Flash

Common questions

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Gemini 3.6 Flash

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash cheaper for input?

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.25 per million input tokens, against $0.75 for Gemini 3.6 Flash — roughly 3.0× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite has tiered pricing: $0.25 input (text, image, video; $0.50 audio) / $1.50 output per MTok; cached input $0.025. GA 2026-05-07 after a 2026-03-03 preview; shutdown no earlier than 2027-05-07. Gemini 3.6 Flash has tiered pricing: $0.75/$3.75 per MTok (intro through 2026-12-31, then $1.50/$7.50). Multimodal input.

Is Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash cheaper for output?

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $1.50 per million output tokens, against $3.75 for Gemini 3.6 Flash — roughly 2.5× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite has tiered pricing: $0.25 input (text, image, video; $0.50 audio) / $1.50 output per MTok; cached input $0.025. GA 2026-05-07 after a 2026-03-03 preview; shutdown no earlier than 2027-05-07. Gemini 3.6 Flash has tiered pricing: $0.75/$3.75 per MTok (intro through 2026-12-31, then $1.50/$7.50). Multimodal input.

Which has the larger context window, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash?

Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context, so document length will not decide between them.

Should I use Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash?

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is the budget tier and Gemini 3.6 Flash the balanced tier. The useful question is whether your hardest task actually fails on the cheaper one — most production volume such as classification, extraction and summarisation does not.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

Input price: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite costs $0.25 per 1M tokens versus $0.75 for Gemini 3.6 Flash — a 3x difference at the headline tier.
Measured capability: Gemini 3.6 Flash leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 34 to 15.6 (measured 2026-09-26).
Positioning: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite sits in the budget tier, Gemini 3.6 Flash in the balanced tier — most production volume (classification, extraction, summarisation) does not need the pricier tier.

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