Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Qwen Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 69 and 65 on our weighted score, though Qwen Flash is 21% 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
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Flash
69/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.40
- Context1M
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Qwen Flash (69) and Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen Flash 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 priceQwen FlashQwen Flash $0.138 · 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 · Qwen Flash 1,000,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 24B 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Mistral Small 3.2 24B: Text, Images · Qwen Flash: Text
- Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2 24BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Mistral Small 3.2 24B | Qwen Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 82 | 85 | 87 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 100 | 50 | 45 |
| Context window | 20% | 61 | 36 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 83/100 | 65/100 | 69/100 |
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 | Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 | $0.10 | $0.05 (best) |
| Output | $0.40 | $0.305 (best) | $0.40 |
| Cached input | $0.01 | — | $0.01 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 | $0.151 | $0.138 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 256K: $0.25 / $2.00 |
| Price source | Official Google API | Median of 8 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens | 32,768 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 | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | — | qwen-flash |
| API providers | 24 (best) | 8 | 6 |
| Released | Jun 17, 2025 | Jun 20, 2025 | Jul 28, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Oct 31, 2023 | Apr 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
- Qwen Flash$1.30
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Mistral Small 3.2 24B or Qwen Flash?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Qwen Flash (69) and Mistral Small 3.2 24B (65). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen Flash 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 Qwen Flash?
Qwen Flash is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $0.138 per million tokens for Qwen Flash versus $0.151 for Mistral Small 3.2 24B (1.1× 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 Qwen Flash 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 Qwen Flash 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 1,000,000 for Qwen Flash and 256,000 for Mistral Small 3.2 24B. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Mistral Small 3.2 24B up to 16,384, Qwen Flash up to 32,768 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; Qwen Flash accepts text. 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 Qwen Flash is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen Flash is the newest, released Jul 28, 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, Qwen Flash Apr 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.
