gemini-2.5-flash
Input price$0.3
Output price$2.5
GoogleTextVisionAudio
gemini-3.1-flash-lite
gemini-3.1-flash-lite is Google's model at $0.25 input and $1.50 output per million tokens, with a 1049K context window. On a typical 3:1 input-to-output mix that blends to roughly $0.56 per million tokens, placing it in the mid-range band of the 68 models tracked here — cheaper than 63% of them.
Context window1049K
Input price$0.25 / 1M
Output price$1.5 / 1M
Output speed210 tok/s
Quality score80
Data updatedUpdated Jul 2026
Price verified2026-08-19 · Official
By price, gemini-3.1-flash-lite ranks 19th cheapest of 68 on input and 29th on output. Its quality score of 80 ranks 48th of 68, and on value (quality score ÷ output price) it ranks 29th of 68. Its blended rate sits 81% below the catalog average.
In real billing terms: a support chatbot handling 50,000 turns a month (2,000 input / 500 output tokens each) costs about $63 per month on gemini-3.1-flash-lite, while a RAG workload of 20,000 queries (8,000 input / 800 output tokens each) runs about $64. Because output is priced 6.0× input here, long-generation tasks scale cost fastest — cap output length before you optimise anything else.
A 1049K context window holds roughly 1,399 pages of A4 text (at ~750 tokens per page), ranking 2nd of 68 here. That is enough to drop in an entire technical manual or several source files at once, which suits long-document summarization and codebase-wide analysis. Output runs at about 210 tok/s (4th fastest of 68), fast enough for real-time interaction and high-throughput batches.
We track 7 Google models, and gemini-3.1-flash-lite's blended rate sits 75% below that provider's average. If your task tolerates a little less headroom, qwen3.5-flash (Alibaba) blends about 90% cheaper at a quality score of 82, and is worth benchmarking first. Going the other way, Hunyuan HY3 scores 87 on quality for about 82% less.
The closest model in Google's line-up is gemini-2.5-flash ($0.30 input / $2.50 output, quality 84). Against it, gemini-3.1-flash-lite scores 4 points lower on quality, runs 10 tok/s faster (about 5%), costs 51% less blended. When two models sit this close on price, the deciding factor is usually the quality ceiling — run both against your real prompts before picking.
Estimated monthly cost
Monthly API spend across four common workloads, next to the cheapest model we track.
| Workload | Usage assumption | This model | Cheapest model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot | 2,000 input / 500 output tokens per turn, 50,000 turns per month | $63 | $3.00 |
| RAG document Q&A | 8,000 input / 800 output tokens per query, 20,000 queries per month | $64 | $3.84 |
| Coding assistant | 12,000 input / 2,000 output tokens per request, 10,000 requests per month | $60 | $3.20 |
| Batch summarization | 4,000 input / 400 output tokens per item, 200,000 items per month | $320 | $19 |
Derived directly from the rates on this page. Excludes prompt caching, batch discounts and free tiers.
How it compares
The alternatives worth benchmarking alongside it, from the same dataset.
| Model | Provider | Blended /1M | Quality | Price delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gemini-3.1-flash-lite | $0.56 | 80 | — | |
| qwen3.5-flashCheaper option | Alibaba | $0.055 | 82 | -90% |
| Hunyuan HY3Higher quality | Tencent | $0.10 | 87 | -82% |
| gemini-2.5-flashSame provider | $0.85 | 84 | +51% |
Best for
ChatbotAffordableFastMultimodal
Modalities
TextVisionAudio
Where it fits — and where it doesn't
Good fit
- Chat and support: natural multi-turn conversation for user-facing products.
- Long documents: a 1049K window ingests a full contract, paper or large codebase in one pass.
- High throughput and real-time UX: 210 tok/s keeps streamed responses feeling instant.
- Multimodal input: handles images, screenshots and scanned documents directly.
Poor fit
- Hard reasoning: a quality score of 80 is on the low side here; pick a stronger model for complex planning or maths.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the gemini-3.1-flash-lite API cost?
gemini-3.1-flash-lite costs $0.25 per million input tokens and $1.50 per million output tokens. On a 3:1 input-to-output mix that blends to about $0.56 per million tokens.
What does gemini-3.1-flash-lite cost per month?
It depends on volume. Using the four worked scenarios on this page: a support chatbot runs about $63/month, RAG document Q&A about $64/month, a coding assistant about $60/month, and batch summarization about $320/month. Plug your own token counts into the cost calculator for a tailored figure.
How large is the gemini-3.1-flash-lite context window?
1049K tokens — roughly 1,399 pages of A4 text at ~750 tokens per page, ranking 2nd of the 68 models tracked here.
gemini-3.1-flash-lite or qwen3.5-flash — which is better value?
qwen3.5-flash blends to about $0.055 per million tokens versus $0.56 for gemini-3.1-flash-lite — roughly 90% cheaper — at a quality score of 82 against 80. If that quality gap does not show up on your task, take the cheaper one; if it does, stay with gemini-3.1-flash-lite. Benchmark both on your own data before deciding.
What is gemini-3.1-flash-lite best suited for?
Tagged use cases: chatbot, cheap, fast, multimodal. Chat and support: natural multi-turn conversation for user-facing products. Less suitable: Hard reasoning: a quality score of 80 is on the low side here; pick a stronger model for complex planning or maths.
How current is this gemini-3.1-flash-lite pricing?
Pricing here was last verified on 2026-08-19 against official documentation. llmprice.app runs a daily collection job, but providers can change rates between runs — confirm against Google's official pricing page before you commit.
Estimate the real cost of this model
Bring tokens per request and monthly volume into the calculator to compare total model costs.
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gemini-3.5-flash
Input price$1.5
Output price$9
gemini-3.1-pro
Input price$2
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Pricing, speed and quality scores change over time. Confirm official documentation before production use.