Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
$147.50 / month- Input cost
- $87.50
- Output cost
- $60.00
- Per 1,000 calls
- $0.295
- Pricing profile
- standard
Source-tracked model comparison
Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: which costs less for classification routing?
Compare verified pricing and model limits for routing between current Gemini speed and economy tiers. The cost example uses a classification and routing workload and does not assume equal model quality.
Direct cost answer: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is estimated at $147.50 per month and Gemini 3.5 Flash at $885.00 for 700 input tokens, 80 output tokens, and 500,000 monthly requests. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is $737.50 lower under these assumptions. This does not identify a quality winner.
Tracked facts
Pricing and model limits
Prices are USD per 1M tokens under each model's verified default profile.
| Field | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Gemini 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ||
| API model ID | gemini-3.1-flash-lite | gemini-3.5-flash |
| Input / 1M | $0.25 | $1.50 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.025 | $0.15 |
| Output / 1M | $1.50 | $9.00 |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Maximum output | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Accepted input | text, image, audio | text |
Example workload
Classification and routing cost scenario
700 input and 80 output tokens per request, 500,000 monthly requests, and 0% cached input.
Gemini 3.5 Flash
$885.00 / month- Input cost
- $525.00
- Output cost
- $360.00
- Per 1,000 calls
- $1.77
- Pricing profile
- standard
Cost result: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is $737.50 lower per month for these assumptions. This is a price comparison, not a model-quality ranking.
Questions to answer before choosing
- Which classifications need the higher tier?
- Can uncertain cases escalate automatically?
- Does measured fallback volume preserve the expected savings?
What this estimate leaves out
Quality and latency are not assumed equal across models; validate labels on a representative evaluation set.
Latency, reliability, output quality, retries, regional processing, and provider-specific tool charges can change the practical decision.