ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 vs QwQ 32B

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 comes out ahead, 67 to 53 and 52 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek V3 0324

    Released Mar 24, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI135.9
    • Price$0.275 / $1.12
    • Context164K
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    67/100
    • ECI133.8
    • Price$0.12 / $0.48
    • Context1.05M
  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    QwQ 32B

    Released Mar 5, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI137.5
    • Price$0.53 / $0.70
    • Context131K
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against QwQ 32B (53) and DeepSeek V3 0324 (52). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. QwQ 32B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwQ 32BCapabilities Index (ECI): QwQ 32B 137.5 · DeepSeek V3 0324 135.9 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 133.8
  • Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 $0.21 · DeepSeek V3 0324 $0.486 · QwQ 32B $0.573 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 1,048,576 · DeepSeek V3 0324 163,840 · QwQ 32B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17DeepSeek V3 0324: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · QwQ 32B: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek V3 0324 and QwQ 32BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek V3 0324Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17QwQ 32B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%595761
Price25%627959
Inputs & features15%259035
Context window10%286125
Overall100%52/10067/10053/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 vs QwQ 32B specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeekGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17GoogleQwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.9133.8137.5 (best)
ECI rank#128 of 165#132 of 165#123 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions67.6% (best)—65.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics37.8%—59.2% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.275$0.12 (best)$0.53
Output$1.12$0.48 (best)$0.70
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.486$0.21 (best)$0.573
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 13 providersMedian of 2 providersMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window163,840 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output163,840 tokens (best)65,536 tokens8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoYesNo
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningNoYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryOpen
API model ID———
API providers13 (best)22
ReleasedMar 24, 2025Jun 17, 2025Mar 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 2025Apr 2024
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.

  • DeepSeek V3 0324$4.99
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17$2.16
  • QwQ 32B$6.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek V3 0324, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 or QwQ 32B?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against QwQ 32B (53) and DeepSeek V3 0324 (52). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. QwQ 32B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V3 0324, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 or QwQ 32B?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is cheaper at $0.12 input / $0.48 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). DeepSeek V3 0324 costs $0.275 input / $1.12 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers); QwQ 32B costs $0.53 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.21 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 versus $0.486 for DeepSeek V3 0324 (2.3× as much) and $0.573 for QwQ 32B (2.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

QwQ 32B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): QwQ 32B 137.5 (#123 of 165), DeepSeek V3 0324 135.9 (#128 of 165) and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 133.8 (#132 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (133.1–141.3 vs 132.5–137.7), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek V3 0324, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 and QwQ 32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, QwQ 32B leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek V3 0324 and 131,072 for QwQ 32B. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek V3 0324 up to 163,840, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 up to 65,536, QwQ 32B up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek V3 0324 accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; QwQ 32B accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek V3 0324 and QwQ 32B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. DeepSeek V3 0324 came out Mar 24, 2025; QwQ 32B came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 Jan 2025, QwQ 32B Apr 2024.

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.