ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Qwen3 30B A3B

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 78 and 55 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    78/100
    • ECI133.8
    • Price$0.12 / $0.48
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    83/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 30B A3B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.108 / $0.475
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 30B A3B
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 (78) and Qwen3 30B A3B (55). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Qwen3 30B A3B $0.20 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 $0.21 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 1,048,576 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Qwen3 30B A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3 30B A3B: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3 30B A3BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteQwen3 30B A3B
Price50%798280
Inputs & features30%9010035
Context window20%616125
Overall100%78/10083/10055/100

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.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Qwen3 30B A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleQwen3 30B A3BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)133.8—136.2 (best)
ECI rank#132 of 165—#126 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions——61.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics——62.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.12$0.10 (best)$0.108
Output$0.48$0.40 (best)$0.475
Cached input—$0.01—
Blended (3:1)$0.21$0.175 (best)$0.20
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersOfficial Google APIMedian of 14 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,048,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)65,536 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesNo
PDFsYesYesNo
AudioYesYesNo
VideoYesYesNo
ReasoningYesYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpen
API model ID—gemini-2.5-flash-lite—
API providers224 (best)14
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Jun 17, 2025Apr 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJan 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.

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17$2.16
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • Qwen3 30B A3B$2.03
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Qwen3 30B A3B?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 (78) and Qwen3 30B A3B (55). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Qwen3 30B A3B?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Qwen3 30B A3B costs $0.108 input / $0.475 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 costs $0.12 input / $0.48 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite versus $0.20 for Qwen3 30B A3B (1.1× as much) and $0.21 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 has an ECI of 133.8, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has not been scored yet and Qwen3 30B A3B has an ECI of 136.2.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Qwen3 30B A3B 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 06-17 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite have the largest context windows (1,048,576 and 1,048,576 tokens), against 131,072 for Qwen3 30B A3B. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 up to 65,536, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Qwen3 30B A3B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Qwen3 30B A3B accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 30B A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025; Qwen3 30B A3B came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview 06-17 Jan 2025, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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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