Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview by Google or Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite by Google? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview scores 7.5 points higher (29.7 vs 22.2) but costs 5.3× as much to run the benchmark ($1935 vs $366; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when you need intelligence above 22.2, and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite when 22.2 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 29.7 | 22.2 | −25.3% Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 25.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,935.39 | $365.63 | −81.1% Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 81.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 24.90s | 8.60s | −65.5% Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 65.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $0.30 / $2.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image, Speech, Video |
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview: 25.3% less intelligence, 81.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 65.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGemini 3.5 Flash-LiteToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-1-pro-preview/gemini-3-5-flash-lite · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-1-pro-preview/gemini-3-5-flash-lite?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill