Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs o3-deep-research
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 65 and 24 on our weighted score, though Mistral Small 3.2 24B is 14% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
83/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
Mistral AIMistral Small 3.2 24B
65/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.305
- Context256K
OpenAIo3-deep-research
24/100- ECI—
- Price$9.00 / $36.00
- Context200K
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65) and o3-deep-research (24). It leads on inputs & features and 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 · o3-deep-research $15.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Mistral Small 3.2 24B 256,000 · o3-deep-research 200,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Mistral Small 3.2 24B: Text, Images · o3-deep-research: Text, Images
- Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2 24BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Mistral Small 3.2 24B | o3-deep-research |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 82 | 85 | 0 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 100 | 50 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 61 | 36 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 83/100 | 65/100 | 24/100 |
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 | Mistral Small 3.2 24BMistral AI | o3-deep-researchOpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 (best) | $0.10 (best) | $9.00 |
| Output | $0.40 | $0.305 (best) | $36.00 |
| Cached input | $0.01 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 | $0.151 (best) | $15.75 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Median of 8 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens | 200,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 16,384 tokens | 100,000 tokens (best) |
| 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 | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | — | — |
| API providers | 24 (best) | 8 | 1 |
| Released | Jun 17, 2025 | Jun 20, 2025 | Jun 26, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Oct 31, 2023 | May 2024 |
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
- Mistral Small 3.2 24B$1.61
- o3-deep-research$162.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Mistral Small 3.2 24B or o3-deep-research?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65) and o3-deep-research (24). It leads on inputs & features and 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, Mistral Small 3.2 24B or o3-deep-research?
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); o3-deep-research costs $9.00 input / $36.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). 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 $15.75 for o3-deep-research (104× 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, Mistral Small 3.2 24B has not been scored yet and o3-deep-research has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Mistral Small 3.2 24B and o3-deep-research 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 256,000 for Mistral Small 3.2 24B and 200,000 for o3-deep-research. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Mistral Small 3.2 24B up to 16,384, o3-deep-research up to 100,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Mistral Small 3.2 24B accepts text and images; o3-deep-research 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 24B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and o3-deep-research is proprietary.
Which is newer?
o3-deep-research is the newest, released Jun 26, 2025. Mistral Small 3.2 24B 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 24B Oct 31, 2023, o3-deep-research May 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 Nov 2, 2026.
