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Gemini · Fast / Budget · 1.0M context window

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite pricing for chain of thought

$0.0134 per call at 3,000 input / 5,000 output tokens.

Per call

$0.0134

10K calls/mo

$134

Cache savings

90% off input

Batch savings

50% off all

Calculate your Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs

Adjust token counts, volume, and discount toggles to model your chain of thought spend. Prices verified daily against provider pricing pages.

Configure your usage

3,000
100100K
5,000
5050K
10,000
1001M

Estimated cost

Monthly cost
$134
10,000 calls/month
Cost per call$0.0134
Daily cost$4
Input rate$0.30/MTok
Output rate$2.50/MTok
Analyze your real spend

Quick start

Call Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite with the Google Generative AI SDK:

import google.generativeai as genai

model = genai.GenerativeModel("gemini-3.5-flash-lite")
response = model.generate_content("Your prompt here")
# Cost: ~$0.0134 per call at standard rates
# Input:  $0.30/MTok
# Output: $2.50/MTok

How Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite compares on cost

Per-call cost for all models scoring 50+ on chain of thought benchmarks. Hover for details.

GPT 6 Luna$0.002800GPT 5.6 Luna$0.006600GPT 5.4 Nano$0.006850Grok Build 0.1$0.0130Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite$0.0134Grok 4.3$0.0163Gemini 3 Flash$0.0165Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.0210Gemini 3.7 Flash$0.0210Gemini 3.8 Flash$0.0210GPT 5.4 Mini$0.0248Claude Haiku 4.5$0.0280Grok 4.6$0.0360Grok 4.5$0.0360Grok 4.7$0.0360Gemini 3.5 Flash$0.0495Claude Sonnet 5$0.0560GPT 6 Sol$0.0560GPT 5.6 Terra$0.0660Gemini 3.1 Pro$0.0660GPT 5.4$0.0825Claude Sonnet 4.6$0.0840Claude Opus 5.5$0.1120GPT 5.6 Sol$0.1120Claude Opus 4.8$0.1400Claude Opus 5$0.1400Claude Opus 4.7$0.1400Claude Opus 4.6$0.1400GPT 5.5$0.1650Claude Fable 5.1$0.2800Claude Fable 5$0.2800GPT 6 Astra$0.2800

Cheapest viable option: GPT 5.6 Luna at $0.006600/call (51% less, 86/100 quality).

What drives chain of thought cost

Reasoning tasks invert the usual ratio: the model produces far more tokens than it consumes, because the intermediate steps are the work. Output pricing dominates completely, and models that reason at length cost more than their headline rate suggests. Comparing reasoning models on input price is actively misleading; compare them on output.

For Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite specifically, that means output tokens cost 8.3x more than input, at $2.50 vs $0.30 per MTok. At this use case’s 3,000/5,000 token split, output accounts for 93% of the $0.0134 per-call cost.

Complete Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite pricing breakdown

Standard token rates

Direction$/MTokTokens per call
Input$0.303,000
Output$2.505,000

Prompt caching: 90% off input tokens

Caching drops input cost from $0.30 to $0.03/MTok. For repeated system prompts, that saves $0.000810 per call.

Batch API: 50% off all tokens

Submit requests asynchronously and receive 50% off all token costs. This works best for offline pipelines where latency requirements are flexible.

Monthly cost projections

Monthly volumeCost per callStandard monthlyCached monthlyYou save with caching
10,000 calls$0.0134$134$125.9$8.1
50,000 calls$0.0134$670$629.5$40.5
100,000 calls$0.0134$1,340$1,259$81
500,000 calls$0.0134$6,700$6,295$405
1,000,000 calls$0.0134$13,400$12,590$810

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite quality benchmarks for chain of thought

Consider alternatives for chain of thought

Scores 60/100 (rank #30 of 88). Better options exist at similar price points for chain of thought.

Top-ranked: GPT 6 Astra (93/100) at $0.2800/call

Performance across all task types

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite scores by task type. Chain of Thought highlighted.

Classification85Q&A78Extraction69Summarization67Creative Writing67Reasoning *60Code Generation58Code Review52
Task typeConfidence scoreRank out of 88
Classification85/100#4
Q&A78/100#6
Extraction69/100#30
Summarization67/100#16
Creative Writing67/100#23
Reasoning(current page)60/100#30
Code Generation58/100#23
Code Review52/100#8

Confidence scores are a third-party benchmark snapshot from week 26 of 2026. This snapshot is 17 weeks old, so treat the scores as directional and validate against your own evals.

Alternative models for chain of thought

22 models score 80+ on chain of thought benchmarks, sorted by input rate. Cheapest: GPT 5.6 Luna (51% less, 86/100 quality).

ModelProviderInput $/MTokOutput $/MTokQualityPer callvs Gemini
GPT 5.6 LunaGPT$0.20$1.2086/100$0.00660051% cheaper
Gemini 3.6 FlashGemini$0.75$3.7585/100$0.021057% more
Gemini 3.7 FlashGemini$0.75$3.7588/100$0.021057% more
Gemini 3.8 FlashGemini$0.75$3.7589/100$0.021057% more
Claude Sonnet 5Claude$2.00$10.0089/100$0.0560318% more
GPT 5.6 TerraGPT$2.00$12.0091/100$0.0660393% more
GPT 6 SolGPT$2.00$10.0089/100$0.0560318% more
Gemini 3.1 ProGemini$2.00$12.0084/100$0.0660393% more
Grok 4.6Grok$2.00$6.0091/100$0.0360169% more
Grok 4.5Grok$2.00$6.0087/100$0.0360169% more
GPT 5.4GPT$2.50$15.0088/100$0.0825516% more
Claude Sonnet 4.6Claude$3.00$15.0085/100$0.0840527% more
Claude Opus 5.5Claude$4.00$20.0092/100$0.1120736% more
GPT 5.6 SolGPT$4.00$20.0092/100$0.1120736% more
Claude Opus 4.8Claude$5.00$25.0089/100$0.1400945% more
Claude Opus 5Claude$5.00$25.0091/100$0.1400945% more
Claude Opus 4.7Claude$5.00$25.0087/100$0.1400945% more
Claude Opus 4.6Claude$5.00$25.0089/100$0.1400945% more
GPT 5.5GPT$5.00$30.0090/100$0.16501131% more
Claude Fable 5.1Claude$10.00$50.0092/100$0.28001990% more
Claude Fable 5Claude$10.00$50.0090/100$0.28001990% more
GPT 6 AstraGPT$10.00$50.0093/100$0.28001990% more

About Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

Provider

Gemini

Tier

Fast / Budget

Context

1.0M tokens

Released

Jun 2026

Other models from Gemini

ModelTierInput $/MTokOutput $/MTokContext
Gemini 3.1 ProMid-tier$2.00$12.001.0M
Gemini 3.5 FlashFast / Budget$1.50$9.001.0M
Gemini 3 FlashFast / Budget$0.50$3.001.0M
Gemini 2.5 Computer UseFast / Budget$1.25$10.00128K
Gemini 2.5 FlashFast / Budget$0.30$2.501.0M
Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteFast / Budget$0.10$0.401.0M
Gemini 2.5 ProMid-tier$1.25$10.001.0M
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteFast / Budget$0.25$1.501.0M
Gemini 3.1 Pro Custom ToolsMid-tier$2.00$12.001.0M
Gemini 3.6 FlashFast / Budget$0.75$3.751.0M
Gemini 3.7 FlashFast / Budget$0.75$3.751.0M
Gemini 3.8 FlashFast / Budget$0.75$3.751.0M
Gemini Omni 1.1 FlashFast / Budget$1.50$9.001.0M
Gemini Omni FlashFast / Budget$1.50$9.001.0M
Gemini Robotics ER 2Fast / Budget$1.00$5.00131K

You can compare Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite head-to-head against any other model on our model comparison pages, or track how pricing has changed over time on the pricing history tracker.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite pricing for other use cases

See how Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs change across different workload types.

Code Generation

$0.0106/call

Unit Test Generation

$0.0134/call

SQL Generation

$0.002950/call

API Generation

$0.0159/call

Code Refactoring

$0.0112/call

Code Review

$0.006500/call

PR Review

$0.009900/call

Security Review

$0.008050/call

Bug Detection

$0.006500/call

Document Summarization

$0.005500/call

PDF Summarization

$0.008250/call

Meeting Notes

$0.007400/call

Email Summarization

$0.002150/call

Chatbot

$0.003100/call

RAG Pipeline

$0.005550/call

Customer Support Bot

$0.003400/call

FAQ Bot

$0.002450/call

Data Extraction

$0.003700/call

JSON Extraction

$0.002900/call

Invoice Parsing

$0.002100/call

Resume Parsing

$0.002750/call

Legal Analysis

$0.0130/call

Math Reasoning

$0.007950/call

Financial Analysis

$0.0124/call

Content Moderation

$0.000400/call

Sentiment Analysis

$0.000400/call

Categorization

$0.000615/call

Intent Detection

$0.000340/call

Copywriting

$0.005150/call

Blog Writing

$0.0203/call

Marketing Copy

$0.007740/call

Product Descriptions

$0.003900/call

Related pages

Frequently asked questions

How much does Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite cost for chain of thought per API call?

A typical chain of thought call using Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs about $0.0134 per call. This estimate uses 3,000 input tokens and 5,000 output tokens at standard rates. Standard rates are $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens.

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite the best model for chain of thought?

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite scores 60 out of 100 on chain of thought benchmarks overall. It ranks #30 across all 88 models in our cross-provider registry. The highest-ranked model for this task is GPT 6 Astra from GPT. That model scores 93/100 on this task type. Confidence scores are a third-party benchmark snapshot from week 26 of 2026. This snapshot is 17 weeks old, so treat the scores as directional and validate against your own evals.

What is the cheapest model for chain of thought with good quality?

The most affordable model for chain of thought above 80/100 quality is GPT 5.6 Luna. It comes from GPT at $0.20 per million input tokens. Output costs $1.20 per million tokens with a quality score of 86/100. Switching from Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite to GPT 5.6 Luna saves about 51% per API call.

How can I reduce my Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs for chain of thought?

Three strategies lower Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs for this task type effectively. Prompt caching gives a 90% discount on input tokens when reusing system prompts. The batch API gives 50% off all tokens for asynchronous processing workloads. Prompt optimization reduces token counts through more concise instructions and context windows. Combining caching with batching brings your cost from $0.0134 to about $0.000670 per call.

How does Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite pricing compare to other Gemini models?

Gemini has 15 other models alongside Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite today: Gemini 3.1 Pro at $2.00/$12.00 per million tokens (mid-tier), Gemini 3.5 Flash at $1.50/$9.00 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini 3 Flash at $0.50/$3.00 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini 2.5 Computer Use at $1.25/$10.00 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini 2.5 Flash at $0.30/$2.50 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.10/$0.40 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini 2.5 Pro at $1.25/$10.00 per million tokens (mid-tier), Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite at $0.25/$1.50 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini 3.1 Pro Custom Tools at $2.00/$12.00 per million tokens (mid-tier), Gemini 3.6 Flash at $0.75/$3.75 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini 3.7 Flash at $0.75/$3.75 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini 3.8 Flash at $0.75/$3.75 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash at $1.50/$9.00 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini Omni Flash at $1.50/$9.00 per million tokens (fast / budget), Gemini Robotics ER 2 at $1.00/$5.00 per million tokens (fast / budget). The right choice depends on whether your chain of thought workload prioritizes quality, cost, or speed.

What context window does Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite support?

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite supports a context window of 1.0M tokens per API call. This sets the maximum combined length of your input prompt and generated response. For chain of thought, typical calls use 3,000 input and 5,000 output tokens. That is well within this limit, leaving room for longer prompts or multi-turn conversations.

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