Qwen3 235B-A22B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 71 to 51 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 235B-A22B
51/100- ECI139.4
- Price$0.70 / $2.80
- Context131K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
71/100- ECI133.9
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
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Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 235B-A22B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityQwen3 235B-A22BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9
- Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · Qwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteQwen3 235B-A22B: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3 235B-A22BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 235B-A22B | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 65 | 58 |
| Price | 25% | 46 | 86 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 35 | 100 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 51/100 | 71/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen) | Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 139.4 (best) | 133.9 |
| ECI rank | #103 of 148 (best) | #118 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 70.7% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.70 | $0.10 (best) |
| Output | $2.80 | $0.40 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.01 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.23 | $0.175 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Google API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3-235b-a22b | gemini-2.5-flash-lite |
| API providers | 7 | 20 (best) |
| Released | Apr 28, 2025 | Jun 17, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Jan 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
- Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 235B-A22B or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 235B-A22B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Qwen3 235B-A22B costs $0.70 input / $2.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite versus $1.23 for Qwen3 235B-A22B (7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Qwen3 235B-A22B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 (#103 of 148) and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (135.2–140.8 vs 129.8–136.3), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 235B-A22B and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 235B-A22B 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 131,072 for Qwen3 235B-A22B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 235B-A22B 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?
Qwen3 235B-A22B 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. Qwen3 235B-A22B came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025, 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.
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