Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Phi-4-mini
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 65 and 56 on our weighted score, though Phi-4-mini is 25% 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
MicrosoftPhi-4-mini
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.075 / $0.30
- Context128K
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 Phi-4-mini (56). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Phi-4-mini 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 pricePhi-4-miniPhi-4-mini $0.131 · Mistral Small 3.2 24B $0.151 · 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 · Mistral Small 3.2 24B 256,000 · Phi-4-mini 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Mistral Small 3.2 24B: Text, Images · Phi-4-mini: Text
- Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2 24B and Phi-4-miniPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Mistral Small 3.2 24B | Phi-4-mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 82 | 85 | 88 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 100 | 50 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 61 | 36 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 83/100 | 65/100 | 56/100 |
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 | Phi-4-miniMicrosoft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 | $0.10 | $0.075 (best) |
| Output | $0.40 | $0.305 | $0.30 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.01 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 | $0.151 | $0.131 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Median of 8 providers | Official Azure API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | — | phi-4-mini |
| API providers | 24 (best) | 8 | 2 |
| Released | Jun 17, 2025 | Jun 20, 2025 | Feb 26, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Oct 31, 2023 | Jun 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
- Phi-4-mini$1.35
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Mistral Small 3.2 24B or Phi-4-mini?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65) and Phi-4-mini (56). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Phi-4-mini 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 Phi-4-mini?
Phi-4-mini is cheaper at $0.075 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Azure API price). Mistral Small 3.2 24B costs $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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.131 per million tokens for Phi-4-mini versus $0.151 for Mistral Small 3.2 24B (1.2× as much) and $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.3× 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 Phi-4-mini 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 Phi-4-mini 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 128,000 for Phi-4-mini. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Mistral Small 3.2 24B up to 16,384, Phi-4-mini up to 4,096 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; Phi-4-mini accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Mistral Small 3.2 24B and Phi-4-mini 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; Phi-4-mini came out Feb 26, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Mistral Small 3.2 24B Oct 31, 2023, Phi-4-mini Jun 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.
