Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Grok 4.1 Fast vs Mistral Small 3.2
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 85 to 71 and 64 on our weighted score, though Mistral Small 3.2 is 14% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
85/100- ECI133.9
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
xAIGrok 4.1 Fast
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $0.50
- Context2M
Mistral AIMistral Small 3.2
64/100- ECI131.7
- Price$0.10 / $0.30
- Context128K
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Grok 4.1 Fast (71) and Mistral Small 3.2 (64). It leads on inputs & features. Grok 4.1 Fast wins on context window. Mistral Small 3.2 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 priceMistral Small 3.2Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Grok 4.1 Fast $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.1 FastGrok 4.1 Fast 2,000,000 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Grok 4.1 Fast: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
- Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Grok 4.1 Fast | Mistral Small 3.2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 86 | 76 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 100 | 60 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 61 | 72 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 85/100 | 71/100 | 64/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle | Grok 4.1 FastxAI | Mistral Small 3.2Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 133.9 (best) | — | 131.7 |
| ECI rank | #118 of 148 (best) | — | #123 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | — | 49.1% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | — | 30.3% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 (best) | $0.20 | $0.10 (best) |
| Output | $0.40 | $0.50 | $0.30 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.01 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 | $0.275 | $0.15 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Median of 2 providers | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 2,000,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 30,000 tokens | 16,384 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | — | mistral-small-2506 |
| API providers | 20 (best) | 2 | 6 |
| Released | Jun 17, 2025 | Nov 19, 2025 | Jun 20, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | — | Mar 2025 |
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
- Grok 4.1 Fast$3.00
- Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Grok 4.1 Fast or Mistral Small 3.2?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Grok 4.1 Fast (71) and Mistral Small 3.2 (64). It leads on inputs & features. Grok 4.1 Fast wins on context window. Mistral Small 3.2 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, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Grok 4.1 Fast or Mistral Small 3.2?
Mistral Small 3.2 is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Grok 4.1 Fast costs $0.20 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3.2 versus $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.2× as much) and $0.275 for Grok 4.1 Fast (1.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has an ECI of 133.9, Grok 4.1 Fast has not been scored yet and Mistral Small 3.2 has an ECI of 131.7.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Grok 4.1 Fast and Mistral Small 3.2 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?
Grok 4.1 Fast has the largest context window at 2,000,000 tokens, against 1,048,576 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Grok 4.1 Fast up to 30,000, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Grok 4.1 Fast accepts text and images; Mistral Small 3.2 accepts text and images. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Mistral Small 3.2 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Grok 4.1 Fast is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.1 Fast is the newest, released Nov 19, 2025. Mistral Small 3.2 came out Jun 20, 2025; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 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 Oct 4, 2026.
