Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Nova Lite vs Mistral Small 3.2
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 85 to 77 and 64 on our weighted score, though Nova Lite is 40% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
85/100- ECI133.9
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
AmazonNova Lite
77/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.24
- Context300K
Mistral AIMistral Small 3.2
64/100- ECI131.7
- Price$0.10 / $0.30
- Context128K
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Nova Lite (77) and Mistral Small 3.2 (64). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Nova Lite 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 priceNova LiteNova Lite $0.105 · 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 · Nova Lite 300,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Mistral Small 3.2: Text, Images
- Self-hostingMistral Small 3.2Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Nova Lite | Mistral Small 3.2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 86 | 96 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 100 | 70 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 61 | 39 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 85/100 | 77/100 | 64/100 |
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 | Nova LiteAmazon | Mistral Small 3.2Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | $0.06 (best) | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.40 | $0.24 (best) | $0.30 |
| Cached input | $0.01 (best) | $0.015 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 | $0.105 (best) | $0.15 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 300,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 10,000 tokens | 16,384 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 | mistral-small-2506 |
| API providers | 20 (best) | 3 | 6 |
| Released | Jun 17, 2025 | Dec 3, 2024 | Jun 20, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Oct 2024 | Mar 2025 |
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
- Nova Lite$1.08
- Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Nova Lite or Mistral Small 3.2?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Nova Lite (77) and Mistral Small 3.2 (64). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Nova Lite 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, Nova Lite or Mistral Small 3.2?
Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.24 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock 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 $0.105 per million tokens for Nova Lite versus $0.15 for Mistral Small 3.2 (1.4× as much) and $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.7× 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, Nova Lite has not been scored yet and Mistral Small 3.2 has an ECI of 131.7.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Nova Lite and Mistral Small 3.2 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 300,000 for Nova Lite and 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Nova Lite up to 10,000, Mistral Small 3.2 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; Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Mistral Small 3.2 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 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Nova 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; Nova Lite came out Dec 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Nova Lite Oct 2024, Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 2025.
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.
