Google (Gemini) · Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
gemini-3.5-flash-liteAvailable from the provider.
- Released
- Deprecatednot announced
- Retirednot announced
Summary
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is Google's current low-cost Gemini 3 model, at $0.3 per million input tokens and $2.5 per million output tokens. It keeps the full 1,048,576-token context window and the text, image, video, audio and PDF input of the larger Flash models.
Flash-Lite is the tier below Flash: the same modalities and the same limits, optimised for high-throughput, low-cost execution such as sub-agent tasks and document parsing. Google names it as the replacement for Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite, for which the deprecation page gives 7 May 2027 as the earliest possible shutdown date.
It supports structured outputs, caching, function calling, code execution, search grounding, URL context, thinking and the Batch API. The Live API is not supported, and it does not generate images or audio. The output limit is 65,536 tokens.
No deprecation has been announced. It is listed with a July 2026 update.
Tags
Editorial tags reflect our assessment; documented tags are backed by the sources below.
Specifications
- Input price
- $0.30 / M tok
- Output price
- $2.50 / M tok
- Price class
- Standard
- Context window
- 1M tokens
- Max output
- 65,536 tokens
- Released
- 21 July 2026
- Input modalities
- text, image
- Output modalities
- text
- Knowledge cutoff
- unknown
- Tool use
- Yes
- Structured output
- Yes
- License
- unknown
- Maker
- Google (Gemini)
Use it for
- Parse or extract from documents at volume, using the 1M-token window at a low per-token rate.
- Run sub-agents and routing steps inside a workflow driven by a larger model.
- Migrate off Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite, for which Google names this as the replacement, ahead of its 7 May 2027 shutdown date.
Avoid it when
- The task needs the strongest available reasoning; the Flash and Pro tiers sit above it.
- Cost is the only criterion; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is a third of the input price at $0.1 / $0.4.
- You are migrating from Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite on a fixed budget, since this model costs more at $0.3 / $2.5 against $0.25 / $1.5.
- You need more than 65,536 output tokens in a single response.
Alternatives
What to use instead. Curated suggestions are written by our editors for this model; derived ones are ranked automatically from tags, tier and price class.
- Gemini 2.5 Flash-Litecurated
Google (Gemini)
gemini-2.5-flash-liteA third of the input price at $0.1 / $0.4 with the same modalities, at the cost of an older January 2025 knowledge cutoff.
In $0.10 / M tokOut $0.40 / M tok
ActiveTextVisionChat+6 - Gemini 3.6 Flashcurated
Google (Gemini)
gemini-3.6-flashThe Flash tier above at $0.75 / $3.75, for tasks where Flash-Lite is not accurate enough.
In $0.75 / M tokOut $3.75 / M tok
ActiveTextVisionChat
Change history
Nothing has changed since this model was first recorded — no status change and no price change.
Price history
No price changes recorded yet.
Sources & verification
Facts
Status, dates, pricing and specifications were verified against these pages.
Last verified: (2026-09-10 12:00) · ✓ verified
Editorial profile
The summary, the advice and the curated alternatives are our assessment, not a provider claim.
Editorial profile reviewed on by llm-researcher.