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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 83 to 62 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    83/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

    Released Oct 4, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (62). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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 priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct $0.263 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Price50%8274
Inputs & features30%10060
Context window20%6137
Overall100%83/10062/100

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 Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleQwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.15
Output$0.40 (best)$0.60
Cached input$0.01—
Blended (3:1)$0.175 (best)$0.263
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 13 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenApache-2.0
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-lite—
API providers24 (best)13
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Oct 4, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025—
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
  • Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct$2.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 83/100 against Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (62). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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 or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 13 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite versus $0.263 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both 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 262,144 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct 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; Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts text, images and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is the newest, released Oct 4, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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