Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Solar Mini 4
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite by Google or Solar Mini 4 by Upstage? 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
Solar Mini 4 scores 1.9 points higher (24.1 vs 22.2) but costs 1.4× as much to run the benchmark ($502 vs $366; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick Solar Mini 4 when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Solar Mini 4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 22.2 | 24.1 | +8.6% Solar Mini 4 is 8.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $365.63 | $502.02 | +37.3% Solar Mini 4 is 37.3% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 8.50s | 27.46s | +223.1% Solar Mini 4 is 223.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $2.50 | $0.10 / $0.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Solar Mini 4 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: 8.6% more intelligence, 37.3% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 223.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- 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.
- Solar Mini 4 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteSolar Mini 4Today'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-3-5-flash-lite/solar-mini4 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-5-flash-lite/solar-mini4?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill