API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewGemini 3.5 Flash vs Qianfan-OCR-Fast

Pick Qianfan-OCR-Fast for lower cost; pick Gemini 3.5 Flash only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qianfan-OCR-Fast for lower cost; pick Gemini 3.5 Flash only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qianfan-OCR-Fast is estimated at $2.08 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $3.92 (65.2% lower).

Cost-first pickQianfan-OCR-Fast
Context-first pickGemini 3.5 Flash
Sample savings$3.9265.2%
10x traffic gap$39.15

Gemini 3.5 Flash has more context, but Qianfan-OCR-Fast saves $3.92 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $39.15. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Qianfan-OCR-Fast stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickGemini 3.5 FlashQianfan-OCR-Fast
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputQianfan-OCR-Fast$12$4.81
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputQianfan-OCR-Fast$10.5$3.49
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputQianfan-OCR-Fast$46.5$14.73
Cheaper input Qianfan-OCR-Fast $1.5 vs $0.68 / 1M

Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $0.82 cheaper per 1M input tokens (54.7% lower; 2.21x difference).

Cheaper output Qianfan-OCR-Fast $9 vs $2.81 / 1M

Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $6.19 cheaper per 1M output tokens (68.8% lower; 3.2x difference).

Larger context Gemini 3.5 Flash 1.05M vs 65.54K

Gemini 3.5 Flash has 983.04K more context (16x larger).

Sample workload Qianfan-OCR-Fast $6 vs $2.08

Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $3.92 cheaper on the standard workload (65.2% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Gemini 3.5 Flash Calculating… Estimated API cost
Qianfan-OCR-Fast 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

Qianfan-OCR-Fast has the lower input price; Qianfan-OCR-Fast has the lower output price; Gemini 3.5 Flash offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qianfan-OCR-Fast is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash and $2.08 for Qianfan-OCR-Fast.

Best Fit

Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Qianfan-OCR-Fast when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qianfan-OCR-Fast is estimated at $2.08 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $3.92 (65.2% lower).
  • Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $3.92 cheaper on the standard workload (65.2% lower).
  • Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $0.82 cheaper per 1M input tokens (54.7% lower; 2.21x difference).
  • Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $6.19 cheaper per 1M output tokens (68.8% lower; 3.2x difference).
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash has 983.04K more context (16x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureNewGemini 3.5 Flash
(Google)
Qianfan-OCR-Fast
(Baidu)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M
$1.5$0.68
Completion Price
per 1M tokens
$9$2.81
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output
$6$2.08
Context Window1.05M65.54K
Release Date

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionQianfan-OCR-FastOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qianfan-OCR-Fast is estimated at $2.08 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $3.92 (65.2% lower).
High-volume input processingQianfan-OCR-FastLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsQianfan-OCR-FastLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workGemini 3.5 FlashA 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 3.5 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Gemini 3.5 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Gemini 3.5 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Gemini 3.5 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Larger context near this budget
Popular competitors
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Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Google catalog

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Baidu catalog

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Gemini 3.5 Flash

Gemini 3.5 Flash is Google's high-efficiency multimodal model, bringing near-Pro level coding and reasoning at Flash-tier cost and speed. It is highly optimized for coding proficiency and parallel agentic execution...

Qianfan-OCR-Fast

Qianfan-OCR-Fast is a domain-specific multimodal large model purpose-built for OCR. By leveraging specialized OCR training data while preserving versatile multimodal intelligence, it provides a powerful performance upgrade over Qianfan-OCR.