Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite API pricing
Official Google list price, last checked Oct 29, 2026. Updated Oct 29, 2026.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens, cached input at $0.03, per Google's official pricing page (checked Oct 29, 2026). It's priced in the middle of the pack: number 26 of 77 by blended price ($0.85 per 1M tokens at a 3 to 1 input to output mix). On LMArena's Code Arena it ranks #42 of 50 models we price (relative score 0 out of 100). Cheaper pick: MiMo-V2.6 Flash scores 36 against 0 on the same board at $0.175 blended, 4.9x less.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite price per million tokens
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite price per million tokens | USD |
|---|---|
| Input | $0.30 |
| Cached input | $0.03 |
| Output | $2.50 |
| Blended, 3 parts input to 1 part output | $0.85 |
| Context window | Not listed |
Google lists one flat rate for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: no long-prompt surcharge or tier is shown on the pricing page we checked.
What Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs for real work
List-price estimates for a month, no discounts. Our math, not a quote: change the token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
| Workload | Tokens a month | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | MiMo-V2.6 Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light: a side project or personal assistant | 2M in, 0.5M out | $1.85 | $1.88 | $0.42 |
| Medium: a small team or one product feature | 20M in, 5M out | $18.50 | $18.75 | $4.20 |
| Heavy: a production app | 200M in, 50M out | $185 | $188 | $42.00 |
| Medium with 80% of input cached | 20M in (16M cached), 5M out | $14.18 | n/a | $2.00 |
How Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite ranks on LMArena
Relative score: 100 is the top model we price on that board. Rank is among the models in our price table, not the full leaderboard.
| Board | Rank | Score /100 |
|---|---|---|
| Coding (Code Arena) | #42 of 50 | 0 |
| Chat (Text Arena) | #29 of 51 | 0 |
| Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing) | #23 of 51 | 0 |
| Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn) | #25 of 51 | 0 |
| Reasoning and math (Text Arena math) | #37 of 51 | 0 |
| Vision (Vision Arena) | #14 of 33 | 26 |
Closest rivals to Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
The models nearest in price, other makers first. Ranks are on Code Arena, where we have them.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | $0.375 / $2.25 | $0.8438 | Same price, no score to separate them. Compare |
| Qwen3.5 27B | $0.30 / $2.40 | $0.825 | A tie on price and score. Compare |
| Qwen3.5 Plus | $0.40 / $2.40 | $0.90 | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite wins on price. Compare |
| GLM-4.7 | $0.60 / $2.20 | $1 | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite wins: cheaper, same score. Compare |
Cheaper alternatives to Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
At least 40% cheaper blended, best LMArena score first.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| MiMo-V2.6 Flash | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.175 | MiMo-V2.6 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| GLM-5.3 Flash | $0.15 / $0.50 | $0.2375 | GLM-5.3 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 / $0.50 | $0.20 | Claude Haiku 5.5 wins on both. Compare |
More from Google
- Gemini 3.8 Flash$0.75 in, $3.75 out per 1M
- Gemini 4 Argon$2 in, $10 out per 1M
- Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview$2 in, $12 out per 1M
FAQ
How much does the Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite API cost per million tokens?
$0.30 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens, plus $0.03 per 1M for cached input, as of Oct 29, 2026. A typical 3 to 1 input to output mix works out to $0.85 per 1M tokens.
Does Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite charge more for long prompts?
No. Google lists a single rate on its pricing page.
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite cheaper than Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?
Yes. A medium month (20M input and 5M output tokens) costs $18.50 on Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and $18.75 on Qwen3.6 35B-A3B at list price. On Code Arena, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite ranks #42 and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B isn't ranked.
How does Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite rank on LMArena?
On Code Arena it is #42 of 50 models we price, with a relative score of 0 out of 100. It ranks on 6 of 8 boards we track.
What is a cheaper alternative to Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite?
MiMo-V2.6 Flash costs $0.14 in and $0.28 out per 1M tokens, about 4.9x less blended, and scores 36 on Code Arena against 0 for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
Where does this Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite price come from?
From Google's official pricing page, which we check every day. This page was last checked Oct 29, 2026.