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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax-M2 Her

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite comes out ahead, 69 to 45 on our weighted score, though MiniMax-M2 Her is 38% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI145.1
    • Price$0.30 / $2.50
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite

  2. MiniMax

    MiniMax-M2 Her

    Released Jan 23, 2026

    45/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context66K
    Full specs Remove MiniMax-M2 Her

  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 69/100 against MiniMax-M2 Her (45). It leads on inputs & features and context window. MiniMax-M2 Her wins 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 priceMiniMax-M2 HerMiniMax-M2 Her $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 Her 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGemini 3.5 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · MiniMax-M2 Her: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.5 Flash LiteMiniMax-M2 Her
Price50%5363
Inputs & features30%10035
Context window20%6112
Overall100%69/10045/100

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 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax-M2 Her specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogleMiniMax-M2 HerMiniMax
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)145.1—
ECI rank#79 of 148—
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—
Blended (3:1)$0.85$0.525 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 4 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)2,048 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgemini-3.5-flash-lite—
API providers26 (best)4
ReleasedJul 21, 2026Jan 23, 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 Her$5.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against MiniMax-M2 Her (45). It leads on inputs & features and context window. MiniMax-M2 Her wins 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 or MiniMax-M2 Her?

MiniMax-M2 Her is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). 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 Her versus $0.85 for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has an ECI of 145.1 and MiniMax-M2 Her has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax-M2 Her 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 3.5 Flash Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 65,536 for MiniMax-M2 Her. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite up to 65,536, MiniMax-M2 Her up to 2,048 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

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

Are any of these open source?

No. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax-M2 Her are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the newest, released Jul 21, 2026. MiniMax-M2 Her came out Jan 23, 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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