ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs GLM-5 vs Qwen3.6 27B

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite comes out ahead, 73 to 56 and 37 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite

    Released May 7, 2026

    73/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $1.50
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite

  2. Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-5

    Released Feb 12, 2026

    37/100
    • ECI145.8
    • Price$1.00 / $3.20
    • Context205K
    Full specs Remove GLM-5

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 27B

    Released Apr 22, 2026

    56/100
    • ECI146.5
    • Price$0.60 / $3.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 27B
01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is our pick

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Qwen3.6 27B (56) and GLM-5 (37). 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 3.1 Flash LiteGemini 3.1 Flash Lite $0.563 · Qwen3.6 27B $1.35 · GLM-5 $1.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.1 Flash LiteGemini 3.1 Flash Lite 1,048,576 · Qwen3.6 27B 262,144 · GLM-5 204,800 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.1 Flash LiteGemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · GLM-5: Text · Qwen3.6 27B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingGLM-5 and Qwen3.6 27BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.1 Flash LiteGLM-5Qwen3.6 27B
Price50%624144
Inputs & features30%1003590
Context window20%613237
Overall100%73/10037/10056/100

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 3.1 Flash Lite vs GLM-5 vs Qwen3.6 27B specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.1 Flash LiteGoogleGLM-5Z.ai (Zhipu)Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—145.8146.5 (best)
ECI rank—#74 of 148#68 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—87.8% (best)85.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics——35.1%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—80.0%91.1% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—72.1%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.25 (best)$1.00$0.60
Output$1.50 (best)$3.20$3.60
Cached input$0.025 (best)$0.20—
Blended (3:1)$0.563 (best)$1.55$1.35
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial Z.AI APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)204,800 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesNoYes
VideoYesNoYes
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgemini-3.1-flash-liteglm-5qwen3.6-27b
API providers2327 (best)27 (best)
ReleasedMay 7, 2026Feb 12, 2026Apr 22, 2026
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 3.1 Flash Lite$5.50
  • GLM-5$16.40
  • Qwen3.6 27B$13.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite, GLM-5 or Qwen3.6 27B?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Qwen3.6 27B (56) and GLM-5 (37). 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 3.1 Flash Lite, GLM-5 or Qwen3.6 27B?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is cheaper at $0.25 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Qwen3.6 27B costs $0.60 input / $3.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); GLM-5 costs $1.00 input / $3.20 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.563 per million tokens for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite versus $1.35 for Qwen3.6 27B (2.4× as much) and $1.55 for GLM-5 (2.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has not been scored yet, GLM-5 has an ECI of 145.8 and Qwen3.6 27B has an ECI of 146.5.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Qwen3.6 27B 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 3.1 Flash Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 27B and 204,800 for GLM-5. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite up to 65,536, GLM-5 up to 131,072, Qwen3.6 27B up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; GLM-5 accepts text; Qwen3.6 27B accepts text, images, audio and video. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

GLM-5 and Qwen3.6 27B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is the newest, released May 7, 2026. Qwen3.6 27B came out Apr 22, 2026; GLM-5 came out Feb 12, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.1 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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