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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) vs Trinity Mini

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) comes out ahead, 72 to 68 and 65 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    68/100
    • ECI140.6
    • Price$0.30 / $2.50
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)

    Released Oct 15, 2025

    72/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.022 / $0.215
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)

  3. Arcee AI

    Trinity Mini

    Released Dec 1, 2025

    65/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.045 / $0.15
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Trinity Mini
01 — Verdict

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is our pick

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Gemini 2.5 Flash (68) and Trinity Mini (65). Gemini 2.5 Flash wins on 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 priceQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) $0.07 · Trinity Mini $0.071 · Gemini 2.5 Flash $0.85 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 FlashGemini 2.5 Flash 1,048,576 · Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) 262,144 · Trinity Mini 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 FlashGemini 2.5 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud): Text, Images · Trinity Mini: Text
  • Self-hostingTrinity MiniPublishes downloadable weights (OpenMDW-1.1)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 FlashQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Trinity Mini
Price50%51100100
Inputs & features30%1005035
Context window20%613725
Overall100%68/10072/10065/100

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 vs Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) vs Trinity Mini specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 FlashGoogleQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Alibaba (Qwen)Trinity MiniArcee AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)140.6——
ECI rank#110 of 165——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.022 (best)$0.045
Output$2.50$0.215$0.15 (best)
Cached input$0.03——
Blended (3:1)$0.85$0.07 (best)$0.071
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 1 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)262,144 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens32,768 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesNo
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesNoYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpenOpenMDW-1.1
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash——
API providers32 (best)11
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Oct 15, 2025Dec 1, 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$8.00
  • Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)$0.65
  • Trinity Mini$0.75
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) or Trinity Mini?

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Gemini 2.5 Flash (68) and Trinity Mini (65). Gemini 2.5 Flash wins on 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, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) or Trinity Mini?

Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is cheaper at $0.022 input / $0.215 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Trinity Mini costs $0.045 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $0.30 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.07 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) versus $0.071 for Trinity Mini (1× as much) and $0.85 for Gemini 2.5 Flash (12× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash has an ECI of 140.6, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) has not been scored yet and Trinity Mini has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) and Trinity 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 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) and 131,072 for Trinity Mini. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash up to 65,536, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) up to 32,768, Trinity Mini up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) accepts text and images; Trinity Mini accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Trinity Mini publishes its weights (OpenMDW-1.1) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash and Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Trinity Mini is the newest, released Dec 1, 2025. Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) came out Oct 15, 2025; Gemini 2.5 Flash came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash 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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