- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is cheaper (and better) than Gemini 2.5 Flash
- Google’s new model outperformed its rivals in numerous benchmarks
- Variable reasoning improves efficiency and speed.
Google has introduced its new and improved Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite, its most cost-effective 3 series model designed specifically for developers.
Based on internal testing, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite delivers up to 2.5x faster time-to-first-response token performance than Gemini 2.5 Flash, as well as 45% faster result generation, maintaining or improving quality and reducing costs.
The company confirmed that the price of the new 3.1 model will be $0.25 per 1 million input tokens and $1.50 per 1 million output tokens – a significant reduction from $0.30/$2.50 for 2.5 Flash, but an increase from $0.10/$0.40 for 2.5 Flash Lite.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite launches as affordable mode for developers
Google also offered comparisons with other third-party models, including the GPT-5 mini ($0.25/$2.00), Claude 4.5 Haiku ($1.00/$5.00), and Grok 4.1 Fast ($0.20/$0.50), revealing that the 3.1 Flash Lite outperforms key rival models in six of 11 benchmarks.
In terms of model usability, developers can adjust the amount of reasoning the model uses to switch between instantaneous responses for simple tasks and deeper reasoning for complex tasks.
Some of the use cases cited by Google include high-volume translation, content moderation, UI and dashboard generation, and simulations.
The model is now available in preview for developers using the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and for enterprise users in Vertex AI.
More broadly, the news comes just weeks after Google released its 3.1 Pro model, which outperforms models like Claude Sonnet 4.6, Opus 4.6, GPT-5.2, and GPT-5.3-Codex in most benchmarks.
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