Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
Which is better for the money: Gemini 2.5 Pro by Google or Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite by Google? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 2.5 Pro scores 0.5 points higher (16.1 vs 15.6) but costs 5.3× as much to run the benchmark ($823 vs $156; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 2.5 Pro when you need intelligence above 15.6, and Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite when 15.6 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 2.5 Pro | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 16.1 | 15.6 | −3.1% Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is 3.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $822.85 | $155.87 | −81.1% Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is 81.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 27.94s | 6.08s | −78.2% Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is 78.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.25 / $10.0 | $0.25 / $1.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image, Speech, Video |
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Gemini 2.5 Pro: 3.1% less intelligence, 81.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 78.2% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 2.5 Pro is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
Gemini 2.5 ProGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gemini-2-5-pro/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-2-5-pro/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill