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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Apertus 8B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 vs Granite-4.0-H-Small

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 comes out ahead, 81 to 61 and 54 on our weighted score, though Granite-4.0-H-Small is 31% cheaper per token.

  1. Swiss AI

    Apertus 8B

    Released Sep 2, 2025

    54/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.20
    • Context66K
    Full specs Remove Apertus 8B
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025

    Released Sep 25, 2025

    81/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.095 / $0.38
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025

  3. IBM

    Granite-4.0-H-Small

    Released Oct 2, 2025

    61/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.064 / $0.265
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Granite-4.0-H-Small
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 is the better all-round choice, scoring 81/100 against Granite-4.0-H-Small (61) and Apertus 8B (54). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Granite-4.0-H-Small wins on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceGranite-4.0-H-SmallGranite-4.0-H-Small $0.114 · Apertus 8B $0.125 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 $0.166 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 1,048,576 · Granite-4.0-H-Small 131,072 · Apertus 8B 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025Apertus 8B: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Granite-4.0-H-Small: Text
  • Self-hostingApertus 8B and Granite-4.0-H-SmallPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightApertus 8BGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025Granite-4.0-H-Small
Price50%898391
Inputs & features30%259035
Context window20%126125
Overall100%54/10081/10061/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Apertus 8B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 vs Granite-4.0-H-Small specifications side by side
SpecificationApertus 8BSwiss AIGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025GoogleGranite-4.0-H-SmallIBM
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.095$0.064 (best)
Output$0.20 (best)$0.38$0.265
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.125$0.166$0.114 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 2 providersOfficial watsonx.ai API
Limits
Context window65,536 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoYesNo
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningNoYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0ProprietaryOpen
API model ID——ibm/granite-4-h-small
API providers12 (best)1
ReleasedSep 2, 2025Sep 25, 2025Oct 2, 2025
Knowledge cutoffSep 2025Jan 2025—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Apertus 8B$1.40
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025$1.71
  • Granite-4.0-H-Small$1.17
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Apertus 8B, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 or Granite-4.0-H-Small?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 is the better all-round choice, scoring 81/100 against Granite-4.0-H-Small (61) and Apertus 8B (54). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Granite-4.0-H-Small wins on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Apertus 8B, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 or Granite-4.0-H-Small?

Granite-4.0-H-Small is cheaper at $0.064 input / $0.265 output per million tokens (official watsonx.ai API price). Apertus 8B costs $0.10 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 costs $0.095 input / $0.38 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.114 per million tokens for Granite-4.0-H-Small versus $0.125 for Apertus 8B (1.1× as much) and $0.166 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Apertus 8B has not been scored yet, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 has not been scored yet and Granite-4.0-H-Small has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Apertus 8B, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 and Granite-4.0-H-Small yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Granite-4.0-H-Small and 65,536 for Apertus 8B. Maximum output per response: Apertus 8B up to 8,192, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 up to 65,536, Granite-4.0-H-Small up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Apertus 8B accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Granite-4.0-H-Small accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Apertus 8B and Granite-4.0-H-Small publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Granite-4.0-H-Small is the newest, released Oct 2, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 came out Sep 25, 2025; Apertus 8B came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Apertus 8B Sep 2025, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 09-2025 Jan 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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