ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 72 and 65 on our weighted score, though Mistral Small 3.2 24B is 14% 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 4 Scout 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    72/100
    • ECI129.6
    • Price$0.17 / $0.59
    • Context10M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2 24B

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    65/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.305
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2 24B
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 Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (72) and Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65). It leads on inputs & features. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct wins on context window. Mistral Small 3.2 24B 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 3.2 24BMistral Small 3.2 24B $0.151 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.275 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Mistral Small 3.2 24B 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images · Mistral Small 3.2 24B: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.2 24BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMistral Small 3.2 24B
Price50%827385
Inputs & features30%1005050
Context window20%6110036
Overall100%83/10072/10065/100

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 4 Scout 17B Instruct vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructMetaMistral Small 3.2 24BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—129.6—
ECI rank—#138 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—51.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—7.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.17$0.10 (best)
Output$0.40$0.59$0.305 (best)
Cached input$0.01——
Blended (3:1)$0.175$0.275$0.151 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 13 providersMedian of 8 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens10,000,000 tokens (best)256,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)16,384 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-lite——
API providers24 (best)138
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Apr 5, 2025Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Aug 2024Oct 31, 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 4 Scout 17B Instruct$2.88
  • Mistral Small 3.2 24B$1.61
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.2 24B?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (72) and Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65). It leads on inputs & features. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct wins on context window. Mistral Small 3.2 24B 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, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct or Mistral Small 3.2 24B?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.305 output per million tokens (median across 8 API providers). Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.17 input / $0.59 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.151 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3.2 24B versus $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.2× as much) and $0.275 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (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 not been scored yet, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct has an ECI of 129.6 and Mistral Small 3.2 24B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.2 24B 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?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct has the largest context window at 10,000,000 tokens, against 1,048,576 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and 256,000 for Mistral Small 3.2 24B. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384, Mistral Small 3.2 24B 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; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images; Mistral Small 3.2 24B accepts text and images. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct and Mistral Small 3.2 24B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 2024, Mistral Small 3.2 24B Oct 31, 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

Related comparisons