ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax-M2.7

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite comes out ahead, 70 to 61 on our weighted score, though MiniMax-M2.7 is 38% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI145.1
    • Price$0.30 / $2.50
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite

  2. MiniMax

    MiniMax-M2.7

    Released Mar 18, 2026

    61/100
    • ECI145.9
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context205K
    Full specs Remove MiniMax-M2.7

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is our pick

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against MiniMax-M2.7 (61). It leads on inputs & features and context window. MiniMax-M2.7 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityMiniMax-M2.7Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.7 145.9 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1
  • Lowest priceMiniMax-M2.7MiniMax-M2.7 $0.525 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.85 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1,048,576 · MiniMax-M2.7 204,800 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGemini 3.5 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · MiniMax-M2.7: Text
  • Self-hostingMiniMax-M2.7Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.5 Flash LiteMiniMax-M2.7
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7273
Price25%5363
Inputs & features15%10035
Context window10%6132
Overall100%70/10061/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax-M2.7 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogleMiniMax-M2.7MiniMax
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)145.1145.9 (best)
ECI rank#79 of 148#73 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions83.3%—
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics26.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics71.1%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.30
Output$2.50$1.20 (best)
Cached input$0.03 (best)$0.06
Blended (3:1)$0.85$0.525 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial MiniMax (minimax.io) API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)204,800 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgemini-3.5-flash-liteMiniMax-M2.7
API providers2629 (best)
ReleasedJul 21, 2026Mar 18, 2026
Knowledge cutoffMar 2026—
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 3.5 Flash Lite$8.00
  • MiniMax-M2.7$5.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax-M2.7?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against MiniMax-M2.7 (61). It leads on inputs & features and context window. MiniMax-M2.7 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax-M2.7?

MiniMax-M2.7 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 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 $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M2.7 versus $0.85 for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

MiniMax-M2.7 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.7 145.9 (#73 of 148) and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1 (#79 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (138.2–148.0 vs 142.5–146.7), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax-M2.7 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, MiniMax-M2.7 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.7. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite up to 65,536, MiniMax-M2.7 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; MiniMax-M2.7 accepts text. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

MiniMax-M2.7 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the newest, released Jul 21, 2026. MiniMax-M2.7 came out Mar 18, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Mar 2026.

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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