ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Mistral Small 3.2 vs Phi-4-mini

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 85 to 64 and 58 on our weighted score, though Phi-4-mini is 25% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    85/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  2. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    64/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2

  3. Microsoft

    Phi-4-mini

    Released Dec 11, 2024

    58/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.075 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Phi-4-mini
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 (64) and Phi-4-mini (58). 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 $0.15 · 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 3.2 128,000 · 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: Text, Images · Phi-4-mini: Text
  • Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2 and Phi-4-miniPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteMistral Small 3.2Phi-4-mini
Price50%868992
Inputs & features30%1005025
Context window20%612424
Overall100%85/10064/10058/100

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 Mistral Small 3.2 vs Phi-4-mini specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleMistral Small 3.2Mistral AIPhi-4-miniMicrosoft
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)133.9 (best)131.7—
ECI rank#118 of 148 (best)#123 of 148—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—49.1%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—30.3%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.10$0.075 (best)
Output$0.40$0.30 (best)$0.30 (best)
Cached input$0.01——
Blended (3:1)$0.175$0.15$0.131 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Azure API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)16,384 tokens4,096 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesNo
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-litemistral-small-2506phi-4-mini
API providers20 (best)61
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Jun 20, 2025Dec 11, 2024
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Mar 2025Oct 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
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
  • Phi-4-mini$1.35
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Mistral Small 3.2 or Phi-4-mini?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 (64) and Phi-4-mini (58). 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 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 costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); 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 $0.15 for Mistral Small 3.2 (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 an ECI of 133.9, Mistral Small 3.2 has an ECI of 131.7 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 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 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2 and 128,000 for Phi-4-mini. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Mistral Small 3.2 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 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 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 is the newest, released Jun 20, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025; Phi-4-mini came out Dec 11, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025, Phi-4-mini Oct 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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