Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite

Pick up to 3 models · pricing, context and capabilities · simulate your product cost

Data updated on September 30, 2026· 217 models

GoogleCustom Tools

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools is a variant of Gemini 3.1 Pro that improves tool selection behavior by preventing overuse of a general bash tool when more efficient third-party...

View sheet →

Reasoning estimated
▲
Speed estimated
Input
Output
Context
1 M tokens
Max output
66 K
Input, $ per 1M tokens
$2.00
Output, $ per 1M tokens
$12.00
Cache read, $ per 1M
$0.200
Batch (input / output)
—
Tool calling
Yes
Released
02/19/2026
Knowledge cutoff
2025-01
API id
google/gemini-3.1-pro-preview-customtools
GoogleFlash Lite

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is a high-efficiency model from Google with upgraded agentic capabilities.

View sheet →

Reasoning estimated
Speed estimated
Input
Output
Context
1 M tokens
Max output
66 K
Input, $ per 1M tokens
▲$0.300
Output, $ per 1M tokens
▲$2.50
Cache read, $ per 1M
$0.030
Batch (input / output)
$0.150 / $1.25
Tool calling
Yes
Released
▲07/21/2026
Knowledge cutoff
2026-03
API id
google/gemini-3.5-flash-lite
Third model (optional)
text image audio video PDF / file reasoning (1 to 5, estimated by family) speed (1 to 4, estimated by family)▲ best value among the selected

Which is the better API choice: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?

  • Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: cheapest input (85% less than Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools)
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: cheapest output
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: the newest (07/21/2026)
  • Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools: most reasoning (estimated)

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs 85% less on input and 79% less on output than Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools ($0.300 / $2.50 versus $2.00 / $12.00 per million tokens). All accept 1 M tokens of context. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite offers a batch tier at half price for jobs that do not need an immediate answer.

What would your product cost?

Estimate the monthly cost with your app's real volume. List prices, no cache or batch discounts.

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools
$78.00/mo
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
$14.50/mo

With Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite you save $63.50 a month versus Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools (81% less).

The 6 cheapest for this scenario (chat, last 12 months)

  1. 1Lyria 3 Pro Preview Google$0.00
  2. 2Lyria 3 Clip Preview Google$0.00
  3. 3Qwen3.7 Flash Qwen$0.97
  4. 4DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 DeepSeek$1.55
  5. 5Ministral 3 3B 2512 Mistral$1.90
  6. 6Qwen3.5-Flash Qwen$2.02

Paste your prompt: tokens and cost per model

Rough estimate (about 4 characters per token). Nothing is sent to any server.

76tokens approx.287 characters

Cost of sending it 1,000 times (input only)

  1. 1Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Google$0.023
  2. 2Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools Google$0.152
  3. 3Claude Sonnet 5.5 Anthropic$0.152
  4. 4Claude Sonnet 5 Anthropic$0.152
  5. 5Claude Opus 5.5 Anthropic$0.304
  6. 6Claude Opus 5 Anthropic$0.380
  7. 7Claude Fable 5.1 Anthropic$0.760
  8. 8Claude Fable 5 Anthropic$0.760

Popular comparisons

Frequently asked questions

Which is the better API choice: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs 85% less on input and 79% less on output than Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools ($0.300 / $2.50 versus $2.00 / $12.00 per million tokens). All accept 1 M tokens of context. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite offers a batch tier at half price for jobs that do not need an immediate answer.

Which is cheaper: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is cheaper: $0.300 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens, versus $2.00 / $12.00 for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools.

Which has more context: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite accept the same context: 1 M tokens.

Which is newer: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite was released on 07/21/2026; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools on 02/19/2026.

What would 10,000 requests a month cost with Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?

With 1,500 input and 400 output tokens per request: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Custom Tools: $78.00; Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: $14.50 a month, at list price.

Where do the prices come from and how often are they updated?

From the public catalogs of OpenRouter, models.dev and LiteLLM, which publish each provider's list prices. They sync once a day and the last update date is shown above the comparison.

What does price per million tokens mean?

It is what the provider charges per million tokens you send (input) or the model generates (output). A token is roughly 4 characters. Output almost always costs more than input.

Sources: OpenRouter, models.dev and LiteLLM. Prices in USD per million tokens, list price, no volume discounts. Prompt tokens are an estimate; each provider's tokenizer may differ.