Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Google's volume tier: 1M context, ~430 tok/s, $0.30/$2.50, and a respectable Arena rank 70. The right default for classification, extraction and routing at scale. Not a reasoning model in any serious sense (AA 22).
Key facts
- Score
- 63 / 100, rank #19Evals53Price60Peoplen/aFit100
- Price
- $0.30 in · $2.50 out per 1M tokens (Gemini API Pricing)
- Blended price
- $0.85 per 1M tokens (3 input : 1 output)
- Context window
- 1M
- Open weights
- No
- Released
- Jul 21, 2026
- Best for
- Classification and extraction pipelines, Routing and triage, Agentic search at volume
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens on Google's list price (Gemini API Pricing, read Oct 11, 2026).
Independent evals
| Benchmark | Result | Who ran it | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 22 | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite - Artificial Analysis | Oct 10, 2026 |
| Arena Text score | 1455 (rank 70) | Text Arena Leaderboard | Oct 10, 2026 |
- Artificial Analysis output speed (tokens/s): 429.4 (Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite - Artificial Analysis)
Caveats
- Output at $2.50/1M is pricier than GPT-6 Luna or GLM-5.3-Flash for the intelligence you get; the win is speed, not cost per token.
- Google has shipped three Flash-Lite generations in 2026; plan for deprecation cycles.
Questions people ask
How much does Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite cost?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens on Google's list price (Gemini API Pricing, read Oct 11, 2026).
How good is Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite ranks #19 of 26 on the Models at Work leaderboard with a score of 63 out of 100 (October 2026 edition). Google's volume tier: 1M context, ~430 tok/s, $0.30/$2.50, and a respectable Arena rank 70. The right default for classification, extraction and routing at scale. Not a reasoning model in any serious sense (AA 22).
What is Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite best for?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is best for classification and extraction pipelines, routing and triage, agentic search at volume.
What are Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite's benchmark scores?
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 22 (Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite - Artificial Analysis); Arena Text score: 1455 (rank 70) (Text Arena Leaderboard).
What is Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite's context window?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has a 1M token context window according to Google.
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite open weights?
No. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is a proprietary model available through Google's API and partner clouds.
Compare Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Methodology: Score is 0 to 100 and computed, not typed: 55% independent evals (Artificial Analysis, Arena, Scale SEAL, Epoch, each scaled against its natural floor and the best score in this table, then averaged), 15% blended price on a fixed log scale ($0.05 per million is 100, $60 is 0), 15% practitioner sentiment from Signals and community threads, 15% operational fit (context window, open weights). A missing component drops out and the rest are reweighted. A model with no independent eval yet is provisional and ranks below every measured one. Within three points is a tie. Vendor-published figures are labelled and never counted.