Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview (Comparative Analysis)
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Comparative Analysis: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs. Gemini 3 Flash Preview
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Overview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview was released 4 months before Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite.
 Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | |
|---|---|---|
Model Provider The organization behind this AI's development | Google | Google |
Input Context Window Maximum input tokens this model can process at once | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
Output Token Limit Maximum output tokens this model can generate at once | 65.5K tokens | 65.5K tokens |
Release Date When this model first became publicly available | May 7, 2026 2 months ago May 7th, 2026 | December 17, 2025 7 months ago December 17th, 2025 |
Capabilities & Features
Compare supported features, modalities, and advanced capabilities
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | |
|---|---|---|
Input Types Supported input formats | 📝Text🖼️Image🎬Video📁File🎵Audio | 📝Text🖼️Image📁File🎵Audio🎬Video |
Reasoning Controls Defaults and configurable reasoning effort | Enabled by defaultEffort: High, Medium, Low, MinimalDefault: Minimal | OptionalEffort: High, Medium, Low, MinimalDefault: Medium |
Output Types Supported output formats | 📝Text | 📝Text |
Tokenizer Text encoding system | Gemini | Gemini |
Key Features Advanced capabilities | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning ModeContent Moderation | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning ModeContent Moderation |
Pricing
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is roughly 0.5x less expensive compared to Gemini 3 Flash Preview for input tokens and roughly 0.5x less expensive for output tokens.
| Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | |
|---|---|---|
Input Token Cost Cost per million input tokens | $0.25 per million tokens | $0.50 per million tokens |
Output Token Cost Cost per million output tokens | $1.50 per million tokens | $3.00 per million tokens |
Web Search Cost Additional cost for each web search operation | $0.014 per search | $0.014 per search |
Cache Read Cost Cost to reuse cached input tokens | $0.02 per million tokens | $0.05 per million tokens |
Cache Write Cost Cost to write input tokens to the cache | $0.08 per million tokens | $0.08 per million tokens |
Reasoning Token Cost Cost for internal reasoning tokens | $1.50 per million tokens | $3.00 per million tokens |
Image Input Cost Additional cost for each image input | $0.00000025 per image | $0.0000005 per image |
Audio Input Cost Additional cost for audio input | $0.0000005 per unit | $0.000001 per unit |
Audio Cache Cost Cost to reuse cached audio input tokens | $0.05 per million tokens | $0.10 per million tokens |
Benchmarks
Compare relevant benchmarks between Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview.
| Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | |
|---|---|---|
Best Design Arena Score Highest human-preference Elo score across design arenas | Benchmark not available. | 1,243 Elo (#36 in 3D (62.7% win rate)) |
At a Glance
Quick overview of what makes Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Gemini 3 Flash Preview unique.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite by Google understands both text and images, handles audio, analyzes video, can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Very affordable at $0.25/M input and $1.50/M output tokens. Released May 7th, 2026.Gemini 3 Flash Preview by Google understands both text and images, handles audio, analyzes video, can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Reasonably priced at $0.50/M input and $3.00/M output tokens. Released December 17th, 2025.Explore More Comparisons
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Compare Gemini 3 Flash Preview with:
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Best models for coding and development
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Models optimized for creative writing
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Content creation and marketing tasks
💻Technology
Technical analysis and explanations
🔬Science
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Multilingual translation tasks