Model comparison - Similar price, same tier
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs MiniMax-M3
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is from Google and MiniMax-M3 is from MiniMax. On list price, both charge $0.30 per 1M input tokens, and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite charges 2.1x MiniMax-M3's output price ($2.50 vs $1.20 per 1M tokens). Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has a 1,048,576-token context window and MiniMax-M3 1,000,000 tokens; max output is 65,536 and 524,288 tokens per response. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite was released on July 21, 2026 and MiniMax-M3 on June 1, 2026. MiniMax-M3 publishes open weights (MiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community)); Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is closed-weights.
Last verified from each provider's pricing page. All sources
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | MiniMax-M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.30 | $0.30 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $2.50 | $1.20 |
| Cache read / 1M | $0.03 | $0.06 |
| Batch input / 1M | $0.15 | - |
| Batch output / 1M | $1.25 | - |
| Long-context rates above | - | 512,000 tokens |
| Context window | 1,048,576 | 1,000,000 |
| Max output | 65,536 | 524,288 |
| Release date | ||
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| License | - | MiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community) |
| API model id | gemini-3.5-flash-lite | MiniMax-M3 |
| AI Gateway id | google/gemini-3.5-flash-lite | minimax/minimax-m3 |
| Last verified |
Prices in USD per 1M tokens at each provider's standard first-party rate. A dash means the provider does not bill that item separately or no primary page states it.
What each costs in practice
The same three workloads every model page uses, worked from each model's standard list rates. Swap in your own token counts with the math on each model's page.
| Workload | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | MiniMax-M3 |
|---|---|---|
| One agent session1M input tokens and 100K output tokens, no caching. | $0.55 | $0.42 |
| A chat app10,000 requests a day at 2K input and 500 output tokens each. | $18.50$555.00 per 30-day month | $12.00$360.00 per 30-day month |
| The same session at a 90% cache hit90% of the input is read from the prompt cache. The one-time cache write premium is not included. | $0.307 | $0.204 |
Show the math
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $0.30 = $0.30Output: 0.1M x $2.50 = $0.25
- A chat appInput: 20M x $0.30 = $6.00Output: 5M x $2.50 = $12.50
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.03 = $0.027Uncached input: 0.1M x $0.30 = $0.03Output: 0.1M x $2.50 = $0.25
MiniMax-M3
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $0.30 = $0.30Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12
- A chat appInput: 20M x $0.30 = $6.00Output: 5M x $1.20 = $6.00
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.06 = $0.054Uncached input: 0.1M x $0.30 = $0.03Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12
Benchmarks under the same setting
No board in the benchmark directory lists both Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MiniMax-M3 under the same setting, so there is no like-for-like score to show here.
Set them up in your tools
Step-by-step guides whose official docs list Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or MiniMax-M3 by model id.
- Use Gemini in ClineLists Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
- Use Gemini in ContinueLists Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
- Use Gemini in GooseLists Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
- Use Gemini in Kilo CodeLists Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
- Use Gemini in OpenCodeLists Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
- Use MiniMax in AiderLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Claude CodeLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in ClineLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Codex CLILists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in CursorLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in GitHub CopilotLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in GooseLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Kilo CodeLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in ZedLists MiniMax-M3
Model pages
FAQ
How do Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MiniMax-M3 compare on price?
On list price, both charge $0.30 per 1M input tokens, and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite charges 2.1x MiniMax-M3's output price ($2.50 vs $1.20 per 1M tokens). For one agent session of 1M input and 100K output tokens with no caching, that is $0.55 on Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and $0.42 on MiniMax-M3. Prices are each provider's first-party list rates, verified October 17, 2026 and October 17, 2026.
What are the context windows of Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MiniMax-M3?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has a 1,048,576-token context window and MiniMax-M3 1,000,000 tokens; max output is 65,536 and 524,288 tokens per response.
Are Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MiniMax-M3 open weights?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is closed-weights and is called through Google's API as gemini-3.5-flash-lite. MiniMax-M3's weights are published at huggingface.co under the MiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community).
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- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Qwen3.8-FlashSimilar price, same tier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs MiniMax-M3Similar price, same tier
- GLM-5.3-Flash vs MiniMax-M3Similar price, same tier
- Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteSame provider, successor
Sources
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite verified from ai.google.dev; MiniMax-M3 verified from platform.minimax.io. This page is as current as the older of the two: .
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/pricing
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models/gemini-3.5-flash-lite
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/pricing/overview
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/text-generation
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/api-reference/text-anthropic-api
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/api-reference/text-chat-anthropic
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/release-notes/models
- https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3
- https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3/raw/main/LICENSE
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