Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite — Side-by-side pricing
Side-by-side API pricing and tokenizer details for Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google) and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite (Google).
Side-by-side pricing
| Feature | Gemini 2.5 Pro | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ||
| Input (per 1M tokens) | $1.25 | $0.300 |
| Output (per 1M tokens) | $10.00 | $2.50 |
| Long-context pricing | Over 200K tokens: $2.50 in / $15.00 out | Flat rate at any prompt size |
| Context caching | No | Yes — 90% off cached tokens |
| Batch API discount | Not available | 50% off |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Tokenizer | Gemini tokenizer | Gemini tokenizer |
Real-world cost example
1,000 API requests per month, each with 500 input tokens and 200 output tokens (500K input + 200K output total).
Gemini 2.5 Pro
$2.6250
Input: $0.6250 +Output: $2.0000
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
$0.6500
Input: $0.1500 +Output: $0.5000
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 75% cheaper for this workload — saving $1.9750 per month at this volume.
Frequently asked questions
No, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper for the typical workload above. At $0.300/1M input and $2.50/1M output tokens, it costs $0.6500 versus $2.6250 for Gemini 2.5 Pro — a 75% difference. Note that Gemini 2.5 Pro switches to long-context pricing above 200K prompt tokens, so for very long prompts this gap does not scale linearly.
Gemini 2.5 Pro supports a 1M token context window. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite supports a 1M token context window. A larger context window lets you include more text — documents, conversation history, or code — in a single API call.
Gemini 2.5 Pro does not support context caching. It does not offer a batch API discount. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite supports context caching (90% off repeated tokens). It offers a 50% Batch API discount.
Yes, both Gemini 2.5 Pro and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite use the Gemini tokenizer. The same text produces identical token counts on both models, so any cost difference is purely due to the rate each provider charges per token.
Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google): $1.25 input / $10 output per 1M tokens. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite (Google): $0.3 input / $2.5 output per 1M tokens. Rates shown before caching or batch discounts.
For an 80% output / 20% input workload — typical for code generation or long-form writing — Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $8.2500 per 1M total tokens and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $2.0600. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 75% cheaper for this pattern. For your exact ratio, paste a real prompt into the calculator above.
Gemini 2.5 Pro has a 1M-token context window — approximately 750K words or ~3K pages of standard text. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has a 1M-token context window — approximately 750K words or ~3K pages. (Estimates assume ~0.75 words per token.)
Calculate costs for your actual prompt
Paste your prompt into the calculator and get exact token counts using each model's real tokenizer — all in your browser.
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