API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewGemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs GPT-5.2 Pro

Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T10:03:26Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T13:08:02Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is estimated at $1 vs $105 for GPT-5.2 Pro, saving $104 (99% lower).

Cost-first pickGemini 3.1 Flash Lite

Context-first pickGemini 3.1 Flash Lite

Sample savings$10499%

10x traffic gap$1040

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $1040. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite	GPT-5.2 Pro
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite	$2	$189
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite	$1.75	$189
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite	$7.75	$861

Cheaper input Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite $0.25 vs $21 / 1M

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is $20.75 cheaper per 1M input tokens (98.8% lower; 84x difference).

Cheaper output Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite $1.5 vs $168 / 1M

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is $166.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99.1% lower; 112x difference).

Larger context Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite 1.05M vs 400K

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has 648.58K more context (2.62x larger).

Sample workload Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite $1 vs $105

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is $104 cheaper on the standard workload (99% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Calculating… Estimated API cost

GPT-5.2 Pro Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has the lower input price; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has the lower output price; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $1 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and $105 for GPT-5.2 Pro.

Best Fit

Choose Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose GPT-5.2 Pro when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is estimated at $1 vs $105 for GPT-5.2 Pro, saving $104 (99% lower).
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is $104 cheaper on the standard workload (99% lower).
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is $20.75 cheaper per 1M input tokens (98.8% lower; 84x difference).
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is $166.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99.1% lower; 112x difference).
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has 648.58K more context (2.62x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	NewGemini 3.1 Flash Lite (Google)	GPT-5.2 Pro (OpenAI)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.25	$21
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$1.5	$168
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$1	$105
Context Window	1.05M	400K
Release Date	2026-05-07	2025-12-10

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is estimated at $1 vs $105 for GPT-5.2 Pro, saving $104 (99% lower).
High-volume input processing	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
GPT-5.5 offers 1.05M context with $20 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

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Provider catalogs

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Google catalog

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OpenAI catalog

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Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is Google’s GA high-efficiency multimodal model optimized for low-latency, high-volume workloads. It supports text, image, video, audio, and PDF inputs, and is designed for lightweight agentic...

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro is OpenAI’s most advanced model, offering major improvements in agentic coding and long context performance over GPT-5 Pro. It is optimized for complex tasks that require step-by-step reasoning,...