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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs DeepSeek-R1

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 71 to 51 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    71/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityDeepSeek-R1Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1 139.0 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9
  • Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · DeepSeek-R1: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteDeepSeek-R1
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5864
Price25%8647
Inputs & features15%10035
Context window10%6124
Overall100%71/10051/100
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 vs DeepSeek-R1 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)133.9139.0 (best)
ECI rank#118 of 148#104 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—71.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—53.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.70
Output$0.40 (best)$2.60
Cached input$0.01—
Blended (3:1)$0.175 (best)$1.18
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-lite—
API providers20 (best)12
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Jan 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Jul 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.

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • DeepSeek-R1$12.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or DeepSeek-R1?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or DeepSeek-R1?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). DeepSeek-R1 costs $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 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 $1.18 for DeepSeek-R1 (6.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

DeepSeek-R1 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148) and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (136.2–140.4 vs 129.8–136.3), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and DeepSeek-R1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek-R1 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; DeepSeek-R1 accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, DeepSeek-R1 Jul 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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