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Model comparison

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Qwen3.6-27B

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 18 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

50.83/100
Margin
3.0pts
winning →
53.82/100
0 category wins1 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite #111 (Supported); Qwen3.6-27B #93 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and Qwen3.6-27B share 18 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 2 results are unique to Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite; 36 to Qwen3.6-27B.

Updated July 21, 2026
Shared results
18
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite only
2
Qwen3.6-27B only
36
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick Qwen3.6-27B if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite only becomes the better choice if you need the larger 1M context window or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 18 shared benchmark results across 6 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Qwen3.6-27B has the cleaner BenchAlign overall profile here, landing at 53.82 versus 50.83. It is a real lead, but still close enough that category-level strengths matter more than the headline number.

Qwen3.6-27B's sharpest advantage is in multimodal & grounded, where it averages 76.7 against 73.2. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is CharXiv, 73.2% to 78.4%.

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is also the more expensive model on tokens at $0.25 input / $1.50 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.00 input / $0.00 output per 1M tokens for Qwen3.6-27B. That is roughly Infinityx on output cost alone. Qwen3.6-27B is the reasoning model in the pair, while Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 262K for Qwen3.6-27B.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and Qwen3.6-27B
CategoryGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteΔQwen3.6-27B
MultimodalGemini 3.1 Flash-Lite73.2Margin 3.5Qwen3.6-27B76.7
AgenticGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B59.3
CodingGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B77.5
KnowledgeGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B53.3
MathGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B89.2

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteB · Qwen3.6-27B
  1. CharXiv

    Multimodal
    Source ↗
    A 73.2%B 78.4%
    Winner: Qwen3.6-27BΔ 5.2
    CharXiv: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite scored 73.2%; Qwen3.6-27B scored 78.4%. Qwen3.6-27B wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteQwen3.6-27BComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensGemini 3.1 Flash-Lite$0.25 input / $1.5 outputQwen3.6-27B$0 input / $0 outputQwen3.6-27B has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondGemini 3.1 Flash-Lite205 tok/sQwen3.6-27BNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenGemini 3.1 Flash-Lite7.50 sQwen3.6-27BNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensGemini 3.1 Flash-Lite1MQwen3.6-27B262KGemini 3.1 Flash-Lite lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteQwen3.6-27BResult
AA Agentic IndexSource 6.2%27.0%Qwen3.6-27B leads
APEX-Agents-AASource 12.2%Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 31.3%94.2%Qwen3.6-27B leads
GDPval-AASource 7.1%32.0%Qwen3.6-27B leads
GDPval-AASource 6421140Qwen3.6-27B leads
Gert LabsSource 38.46%54.84%Qwen3.6-27B leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 59.3%Not comparable
Claw-EvalSource 72.4%Not comparable
QwenClawBenchSource 53.4%Not comparable
QwenWebBenchSource 1487Not comparable
AndroidWorldSource 70.3%Not comparable
Coding
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteQwen3.6-27BResult
Vibe Code BenchSource 0.00%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 34.7%53.7%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-SciCodeSource 41.9%39.8%Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite leads
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 77.2%Not comparable
SWE MultilingualSource 71.3%Not comparable
SWE-bench ProSource 53.5%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 59.3%Not comparable
LiveCodeBenchSource 83.9%Not comparable
NL2RepoSource 36.2%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteQwen3.6-27BResult
AA-LCRSource 65.3%68.7%Qwen3.6-27B leads
CritPtSource 1.1%1.1%Tie
Knowledge
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteQwen3.6-27BResult
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 25.0%37.0%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 82.2%84.2%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-HLESource 16.2%21.6%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -15.5%-19.8%Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 36.4%19.2%Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 81.6%48.3%Qwen3.6-27B leads
MMLU-ProSource 86.2%Not comparable
MMLU-ReduxSource 93.5%Not comparable
SuperGPQASource 66%Not comparable
C-EvalSource 91.4%Not comparable
GPQASource 87.8%Not comparable
HLESource 24%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteQwen3.6-27BResult
HMMT Feb 2025Source 93.8%Not comparable
HMMT Nov 2025Source 90.7%Not comparable
HMMT Feb 2026Source 84.3%Not comparable
MMAnswerBenchSource 80.8%Not comparable
AIME26Source 94.1%Not comparable
MultimodalQwen3.6-27B wins
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteQwen3.6-27BResult
CharXivSource 73.2%78.4%Qwen3.6-27B leads
AA-MMMU-ProSource 75.5%74.6%Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite leads
MMMUSource 82.9%Not comparable
MMMU-ProSource 75.8%Not comparable
RealWorldQASource 84.1%Not comparable
DynaMathSource 85.6%Not comparable
MStarSource 81.4%Not comparable
SimpleVQASource 56.1%Not comparable
CC-OCRSource 81.2%Not comparable
CountBenchSource 97.8%Not comparable
RefCOCO (avg)Source 92.5%Not comparable
ERQASource 62.5%Not comparable
Video-MME (with subtitle)Source 87.7%Not comparable
VideoMMMUSource 84.4%Not comparable
MLVU (M-Avg)Source 86.6%Not comparable
V*Source 94.7%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash-LiteQwen3.6-27BResult
AA-IFBenchSource 77.2%67.6%Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite leads
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Qwen3.6-27B?

Qwen3.6-27B is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 53.82 to 50.83. The biggest single separator in this matchup is CharXiv, where the scores are 73.2% and 78.4%.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite or Qwen3.6-27B?

Qwen3.6-27B has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 76.7 versus 73.2. Inside this category, CharXiv is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Self-host vs API cost

Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
API / mo$1,313
Self-host / moNot listed
Break-even
Proprietary model — self-hosting not applicable.
Qwen3.6-27B
API / mo$0
Self-host / mo$429
Break-even
Model the full break-even

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Last updated: July 21, 2026

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