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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

DeepSeek-V3 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 comes out ahead, 67 to 57 and 49 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-V3

    Released Dec 26, 2024

    49/100
    • ECI132.3
    • Price$0.32 / $1.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-V3
  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
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17

  3. Meta

    Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI132.3
    • Price$0.245 / $0.838
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct
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 Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct (57) and DeepSeek-V3 (49). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 133.8 · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 132.3 · DeepSeek-V3 132.3
  • Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 $0.21 · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct $0.393 · DeepSeek-V3 $0.515 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 · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 1,000,000 · DeepSeek-V3 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17DeepSeek-V3: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-V3 and Llama 4 Maverick 17B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (DeepSeek Model License)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-V3Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%555755
Price25%617966
Inputs & features15%259050
Context window10%256160
Overall100%49/10067/10057/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

DeepSeek-V3 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-V3DeepSeekGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17GoogleLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructMeta
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)132.3133.8 (best)132.3
ECI rank#136 of 165#132 of 165 (best)#135 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions56.5%—67.0% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics15.8%—20.6% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.32$0.12 (best)$0.245
Output$1.10$0.48 (best)$0.838
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.515$0.21 (best)$0.393
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 8 providersMedian of 2 providersMedian of 16 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens65,536 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesYes
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoYesNo
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningNoYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenDeepSeek Model LicenseProprietaryOpen
API model ID———
API providers8216 (best)
ReleasedDec 26, 2024Jun 17, 2025Apr 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 2025Aug 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$5.40
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17$2.16
  • Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct$4.13
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-V3, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 or Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct (57) and DeepSeek-V3 (49). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 or Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct?

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). Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct costs $0.245 input / $0.838 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers); DeepSeek-V3 costs $0.32 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (median across 8 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 $0.393 for Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct (1.9× as much) and $0.515 for DeepSeek-V3 (2.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 133.8 (#132 of 165), Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 132.3 (#135 of 165) and DeepSeek-V3 132.3 (#136 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (130.1–136.1 vs 128.6–134.2), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-V3, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 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 1,000,000 for Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct and 131,072 for DeepSeek-V3. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-V3 up to 8,192, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 up to 65,536, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-V3 accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct accepts text and images. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-V3 and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct publishes its weights (DeepSeek Model License) 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. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025; DeepSeek-V3 came out Dec 26, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 Jan 2025, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct Aug 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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