Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview vs Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview comes out ahead, 73 to 69 and 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
GoogleGemini 3.5 Flash Lite
69/100- ECI145.1
- Price$0.30 / $2.50
- Context1.05M
- Our pickGoogle
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
73/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $1.50
- Context1.05M
NVIDIANemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
50/100- ECI146.2
- Price$0.50 / $2.50
- Context1M
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview is our pick
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (69) and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (50). It leads 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 priceGemini 3.1 Flash Lite PreviewGemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $0.563 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.85 · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite PreviewGemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1,048,576 · Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 1,048,576 · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite PreviewGemini 3.5 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B: Text
- Self-hostingNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 53 | 62 | 50 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 100 | 100 | 45 |
| Context window | 20% | 61 | 61 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 69/100 | 73/100 | 50/100 |
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 3.5 Flash LiteGoogle | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite PreviewGoogle | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 145.1 | — | 146.2 (best) |
| ECI rank | #79 of 148 | — | #70 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 83.3% | — | 85.4% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 26.0% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 71.1% | — | 86.7% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.25 (best) | $0.50 |
| Output | $2.50 | $1.50 (best) | $2.50 |
| Cached input | $0.03 | $0.025 (best) | $0.15 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.85 | $0.563 (best) | $1.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Google API | Official Nvidia API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | Yes | Yes | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | gemini-3.5-flash-lite | gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview | nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b |
| API providers | 26 (best) | 10 | 21 |
| Released | Jul 21, 2026 | Mar 3, 2026 | Jun 4, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 2026 | Jan 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 3.5 Flash Lite$8.00
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview$5.50
- Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B$10.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (69) and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (50). It leads 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 3.5 Flash Lite, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview is cheaper at $0.25 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B costs $0.50 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Nvidia 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 Preview versus $0.85 for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (1.5× as much) and $1.00 for Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (1.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has an ECI of 145.1, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has not been scored yet and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B has an ECI of 146.2.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 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 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview have the largest context windows (1,048,576 and 1,048,576 tokens), against 1,000,000 for Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite up to 65,536, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview up to 65,536, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B accepts text. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the newest, released Jul 21, 2026. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B came out Jun 4, 2026; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview came out Mar 3, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Mar 2026, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 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.
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