Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax-M3 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70, MiniMax-M3 69, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 62). The right pick depends on what you value most.
GoogleGemini 3.5 Flash Lite
70/100- ECI145.1
- Price$0.30 / $2.50
- Context1.05M
MiniMaxMiniMax-M3
69/100- ECI147.0
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context1.05M
NVIDIANemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
62/100- ECI146.2
- Price$0.50 / $2.50
- Context1M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70/100, MiniMax-M3 69/100, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 62/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: MiniMax-M3 for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityMiniMax-M3Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M3 147.0 · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 146.2 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1
- Lowest priceMiniMax-M3MiniMax-M3 $0.525 · 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 MiniMax-M3Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1,048,576 · MiniMax-M3 1,048,576 · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGemini 3.5 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · MiniMax-M3: Text, Images, Video · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B: Text
- Self-hostingMiniMax-M3 and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax-M3 | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 72 | 74 | 73 |
| Price | 25% | 53 | 63 | 50 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 70 | 45 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 61 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 70/100 | 69/100 | 62/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogle | MiniMax-M3MiniMax | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 145.1 | 147.0 (best) | 146.2 |
| ECI rank | #79 of 148 | #62 of 148 (best) | #70 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 83.3% | 90.9% (best) | 85.4% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 26.0% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 71.1% | 71.1% | 86.7% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 (best) | $0.30 (best) | $0.50 |
| Output | $2.50 | $1.20 (best) | $2.50 |
| Cached input | $0.03 (best) | $0.06 | $0.15 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.85 | $0.525 (best) | $1.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 512K: $0.60 / $2.40 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) 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 | 512,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | gemini-3.5-flash-lite | MiniMax-M3 | nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b |
| API providers | 26 | 42 (best) | 21 |
| Released | Jul 21, 2026 | Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 4, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 2026 | — | — |
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-M3$5.40
- Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B$10.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, MiniMax-M3 or Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70/100, MiniMax-M3 69/100, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 62/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: MiniMax-M3 for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, MiniMax-M3 or Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B?
MiniMax-M3 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); 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 $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M3 versus $0.85 for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (1.6× as much) and $1.00 for Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (1.9× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
MiniMax-M3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M3 147.0 (#62 of 148), Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 146.2 (#70 of 148) and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1 (#79 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (142.7–149.8 vs 143.9–148.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — MiniMax-M3 90.9%, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 85.4%, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 83.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 86.7%, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 71.1%, MiniMax-M3 71.1%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, MiniMax-M3 and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, MiniMax-M3 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax-M3 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, MiniMax-M3 up to 512,000, 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; MiniMax-M3 accepts text, images 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?
MiniMax-M3 and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 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. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B came out Jun 4, 2026; MiniMax-M3 came out Jun 1, 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.
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