Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3 Pro
Wins 1 of 7 areas
Facts
Wins 6 of 7 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Images and charts · Long documents · Following instructions
Gemini 3 Pro is the stronger all-rounder.Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is cheaper and better at facts.
Scores updated · 30 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the seven areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- CodingWriting and fixing software03Gemini 3 Pro3 of 3 tests
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking03Gemini 3 Pro3 of 3 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own01Gemini 3 Pro1 of 1 test
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video01Gemini 3 Pro1 of 1 test
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts01Gemini 3 Pro1 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01Gemini 3 Pro1 of 1 test
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up21Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite2 of 3 tests
Agents, images and charts, long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs 96% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Gemini 3 Pro pulls ahead
- Fixes real GitHub issues in Python projectsSWE-bench Verified+44.6points ahead
- Answers hard knowledge questions correctlyAA-Omniscience · Accuracy+37.9points ahead
- Hard command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench Hard+37.2points ahead
Where Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+14.1points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 30 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingGemini 3 Pro
- SWE-bench VerifiedGemini 3 Pro by 44.631.676.2+44.6
- Terminal-Bench HardGemini 3 Pro by 37.24.541.7+37.2
- SciCodeGemini 3 Pro by 36.819.356.1+36.8
ReasoningGemini 3 Pro
- Humanity's Last ExamGemini 3 Pro by 32.96.839.7+32.9
- GPQA DiamondGemini 3 Pro by 28.362.590.8+28.3
- CritPtGemini 3 Pro by 9.109.1+9.1
FactsGemini 2.5 Flash Lite
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyGemini 3 Pro by 37.917.955.8+37.9
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationGemini 2.5 Flash Lite by 14.122.68.5+14.1
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is betterGemini 2.5 Flash Lite by 10.33.313.6+10.3
Following instructionsGemini 3 Pro
- IFBenchGemini 3 Pro by 20.549.970.4+20.5
Other results17 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Gemini 3 Pro by 68.718.487.1+68.7
- SimpleQAGemini 3 Pro by 61.410.772.1+61.4
- AA-OmniscienceGemini 3 Pro by 60.9-45.615.3+60.9
- LiveCodeBenchGemini 3 Pro by 58.333.792+58.3
- AIME 2025Gemini 3 Pro by 50.249.8100+50.2
- AA Agentic IndexGemini 3 Pro by 45.96.152+45.9
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexGemini 3 Pro by 379.546.5+37
- AA IntelligenceGemini 3 Pro by 19.58.528+19.5
- vectara_factual_consistencyGemini 2.5 Flash Lite by 10.396.786.4+10.3
- AIR-Bench 2024Gemini 3 Pro by 7.465.873.2+7.4
- HarmBenchGemini 3 Pro by 5.56772.5+5.5
- bbqGemini 3 Pro by 3.594.998.4+3.5
- anthropic_red_teamGemini 2.5 Flash Lite by 1.698.797+1.6
- simple_safety_testsGemini 3 Pro by 196.597.5+1
- vectara_avg_summary_lengthtie95.7101.9tie
- XSTesttie97.897.3tie
- vectara_answer_ratetie99.599.4tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or Gemini 3 Pro?
Gemini 3 Pro wins six of the seven areas where both have results: coding, agents, reasoning, images and charts, long documents and following instructions. Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite wins facts, and costs 96% less.
Which is better for coding?
Gemini 3 Pro. It wins 3 of the 3 coding tests both models report; Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens; Gemini 3 Pro costs $2.00 and $12.00. That makes Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite about 96% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 30 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 13 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 17 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.