Model comparison
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Gemini 3 Pro
Head-to-head evidence from 10 shared benchmark results across 4 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite unranked (Not scored); Gemini 3 Pro #19 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and Gemini 3 Pro share 10 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 11 results are unique to Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite; 17 to Gemini 3 Pro.
Updated July 21, 2026- Shared results
- 10
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite only
- 11
- Gemini 3 Pro only
- 17
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Treat this as a split decision. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite makes more sense if reasoning is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill; Gemini 3 Pro is the better fit if you need the larger 2M 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 10 shared benchmark results across 4 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
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and Gemini 3 Pro finish on the same BenchAlign overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The BenchAlign headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.
Gemini 3 Pro is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $12.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.30 input / $2.50 output per 1M tokens for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite. That is roughly 4.8x on output cost alone. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is the reasoning model in the pair, while Gemini 3 Pro 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 Pro gives you the larger context window at 2M, compared with 1M for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
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 | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Δ | Gemini 3 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite72.2 | Margin← 41.1 | Gemini 3 Pro31.1 |
| Agentic | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite63.4 | MarginNo overlap | Gemini 3 ProNot measured |
| Coding | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite54.2 | MarginNo overlap | Gemini 3 ProNot measured |
| Math | Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Gemini 3 Pro32.9 |
| Multimodal | Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Gemini 3 Pro81.1 |
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Gemini 3 Pro | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite$0.3 input / $2.5 output | Gemini 3 Pro$2 input / $12 output | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has the lower combined listed price. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteNot available | Gemini 3 Pro109 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteNot available | Gemini 3 Pro32.65 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite1M | Gemini 3 Pro2M | Gemini 3 Pro lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic10 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Gemini 3 Pro | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 54% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld-VerifiedSource | 74% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 1140 | — | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | 26.8% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 32.0% | — | Not comparable |
| AA BriefcaseSource | 634 | — | Not comparable |
| AA Tau3 BankingSource | 16.5% | — | Not comparable |
| τ²-bench resultsSource | — | 87.1% | Not comparable |
| Gert LabsSource | — | 63.23% | Not comparable |
| JobBenchSource | — | 11.4% | Not comparable |
Coding6 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Gemini 3 Pro | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 54.0% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE-bench ProSource | 54.2% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Coding IndexSource | 49.3% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-SciCodeSource | 40.9% | 56.1% | Gemini 3 Pro leads |
| Vibe Code BenchSource | — | 14.30% | Not comparable |
| AA LiveCodeBenchSource | — | 91.7% | Not comparable |
ReasoningGemini 3.5 Flash-Lite wins4 benchmarks
Knowledge7 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Gemini 3 Pro | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 36.5% | 39.5% | Gemini 3 Pro leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 83.8% | 90.8% | Gemini 3 Pro leads |
| AA-HLESource | 17.5% | 37.2% | Gemini 3 Pro leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | 6.9% | 15.8% | Gemini 3 Pro leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 30.3% | 55.9% | Gemini 3 Pro leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 33.5% | 90.9% | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite leads |
| AA MMLU-ProSource | — | 89.8% | Not comparable |
Math2 benchmarks
Multilingual1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Gemini 3 Pro | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Global-MMLU-LiteSource | — | 92.2% | Not comparable |
Multimodal7 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Gemini 3 Pro | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-MMMU-ProSource | 79.0% | 80.2% | Gemini 3 Pro leads |
| MMMU-ProSource | — | 81% | Not comparable |
| MathVisionSource | — | 86.6% | Not comparable |
| VideoMMMUSource | — | 87.6% | Not comparable |
| ScreenSpot ProSource | — | 72.7% | Not comparable |
| CharXivSource | — | 81.4% | Not comparable |
| V*Source | — | 88.0% | Not comparable |
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Gemini 3 Pro | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | — | 70.4% | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or Gemini 3 Pro?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and Gemini 3 Pro are tied on the BenchAlign overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.
Which is better for reasoning, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or Gemini 3 Pro?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 72.2 versus 31.1. Inside this category, CritPt is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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