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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax-M3

Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70, MiniMax-M3 69). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. 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-M3

    Released Jun 1, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI147.0
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove MiniMax-M3

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01 — Verdict

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), 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 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1
  • Lowest priceMiniMax-M3MiniMax-M3 $0.525 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.85 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameGemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1,048,576 · MiniMax-M3 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGemini 3.5 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · MiniMax-M3: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingMiniMax-M3Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.5 Flash LiteMiniMax-M3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7274
Price25%5363
Inputs & features15%10070
Context window10%6161
Overall100%70/10069/100
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-M3 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogleMiniMax-M3MiniMax
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)145.1147.0 (best)
ECI rank#79 of 148#62 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions83.3%90.9% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics26.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics71.1%71.1%
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 rateOver 512K: $0.60 / $2.40
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial MiniMax (minimax.io) API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens512,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgemini-3.5-flash-liteMiniMax-M3
API providers2642 (best)
ReleasedJul 21, 2026Jun 1, 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-M3$5.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax-M3?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70/100, MiniMax-M3 69/100), 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 or MiniMax-M3?

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). 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).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

MiniMax-M3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M3 147.0 (#62 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 142.5–146.7), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — MiniMax-M3 90.9%, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 83.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — 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 and MiniMax-M3 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. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and MiniMax-M3 share the same 1,048,576-token context window. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite up to 65,536, MiniMax-M3 up to 512,000 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. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

MiniMax-M3 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-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.

05 — Keep comparing

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