ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 71 to 46 on our weighted score, though Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is 11% cheaper per token.

  1. Meta

    Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    46/100
    • ECI116.6
    • Price$0.152 / $0.167
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    71/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (46). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6
  • Lowest priceLlama-3.1-8B-InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingLlama-3.1-8B-InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama-3.1-8B-InstructGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3658
Price25%8886
Inputs & features15%25100
Context window10%2461
Overall100%46/10071/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)116.6133.9 (best)
ECI rank#145 of 148#118 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.152$0.10 (best)
Output$0.167 (best)$0.40
Cached input—$0.01
Blended (3:1)$0.156 (best)$0.175
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoYes
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—gemini-2.5-flash-lite
API providers920 (best)
ReleasedJul 23, 2024Jun 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Jan 2025
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.

  • Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct$1.85
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (46). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is cheaper at $0.152 input / $0.167 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.156 per million tokens for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct versus $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6 (#145 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (129.8–136.3 vs 106.3–121.6), so the gap is a real one.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 128,000 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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