ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 62 and 62 on our weighted score, though Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is 2.8× cheaper per token.

  1. 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

  2. Meta

    Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    62/100
    • ECI116.4
    • Price$0.06 / $0.08
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

    Released Sep 19, 2024

    62/100
    • ECI118.5
    • Price$0.05 / $0.10
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen2.5 7B Instruct
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 Qwen2.5 7B Instruct (62) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (62). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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 priceQwen2.5 7B InstructQwen2.5 7B Instruct $0.063 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.065 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 131,072 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Qwen2.5 7B Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Qwen2.5 7B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteLlama-3.1-8B-InstructQwen2.5 7B Instruct
Price50%82100100
Inputs & features30%1002525
Context window20%612425
Overall100%83/10062/10062/100

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 vs Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Qwen2.5 7B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaQwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—116.4118.5 (best)
ECI rank—#162 of 165#159 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—27.0%35.5% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—1.7%2.5% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.06$0.05 (best)
Output$0.40$0.08 (best)$0.10
Cached input$0.01——
Blended (3:1)$0.175$0.065$0.063 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 17 providersMedian of 3 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)4,096 tokens8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpenApache 2.0
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-lite——
API providers24 (best)184
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Jul 23, 2024Sep 19, 2024
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Dec 2023—
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
  • Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct$0.76
  • Qwen2.5 7B Instruct$0.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Qwen2.5 7B Instruct?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Qwen2.5 7B Instruct (62) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (62). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Qwen2.5 7B Instruct?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct costs $0.06 input / $0.08 output per million tokens (median across 17 API providers); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.063 per million tokens for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct versus $0.065 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (1× as much) and $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (2.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has not been scored yet, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct has an ECI of 116.4 and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct has an ECI of 118.5.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 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 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct and 128,000 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Qwen2.5 7B Instruct accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) 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. Qwen2.5 7B Instruct came out Sep 19, 2024; Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023.

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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