High-volume, cost-sensitive work
Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo
GPT-3.5 Turbo costs 12% less on a typical mix of three input tokens for every output token ($0.75 against $0.85 per million tokens).
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs GPT-3.5 Turbo: price, context and capabilities
Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite for very long inputs, images as input and the latest release. Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo for high-volume, cost-sensitive work and writing and code generation.
In short
- GPT-3.5 Turbo is 12% cheaper than Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite at the headline price ($0.75 / 1M tokens vs $0.85 / 1M tokens).
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 16k.
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is the newer model (July 2026, against March 2023).
- Only Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite offers vision, reasoning, prompt caching.
Which should you choose?
Each answer below comes straight from the published prices, specifications and independent benchmark results.
Writing and code generation
Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo
GPT-3.5 Turbo charges $1.50 per million output tokens, against $2.50 for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite. Output dominates the bill when answers are long.
Very long inputs
Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite reads up to 1.05M tokens per request, against 16k for GPT-3.5 Turbo.
Images as input
Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite accepts images as input; GPT-3.5 Turbo does not.
Latest release
Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is the newer release (July 2026, against March 2023 for GPT-3.5 Turbo).
Monthly cost at three volumes
| Volume | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | GPT-3.5 Turbo | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype: 1M input, 250K output tokens | $0.93 | $0.88 | GPT-3.5 Turbo, $0.05 less |
| Production: 20M input, 5M output tokens | $18.50 | $17.50 | GPT-3.5 Turbo, $1.00 less |
| Scale: 500M input, 100M output tokens | $400.00 | $400.00 | = |
Standard rates, without caching or batch discounts. Volumes are per month.
Specifications side by side
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | GPT-3.5 Turbo | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | |
| Category | Language models | Language models |
| Status | Generally available | Deprecated |
| Headline price | $0.85 / 1M tokens | $0.75 / 1M tokens |
| Input | $0.30 / 1M tokens | $0.50 / 1M tokens |
| Output | $2.50 / 1M tokens | $1.50 / 1M tokens |
| Cached input | $0.03 / 1M tokens | No data |
| Context window | 1.05M | 16k |
| Max output | 66k | 4k |
| Released | July 2026 | March 2023 |
| Knowledge cutoff | No data | September 2021 |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Capabilities | Vision, Reasoning, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching, Batch API | Tool calling, Structured output, Batch API |
| API model id | gemini-3.5-flash-lite | gpt-3.5-turbo |
Benchmarks side by side
Leader in bold.
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | GPT-3.5 Turbo |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence Index | 22.2 | No data |
| SciCode | 41.3% | No data |
| GPQA Diamond | 83.8% | No data |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 18.8% | No data |
| MMMU-Pro (visual reasoning) | 79% | No data |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 76% | No data |
Independent evaluations by Artificial Analysis, run the same way for every model, at the reasoning setting shown. Percentages unless marked as an index.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or GPT-3.5 Turbo?
Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite for very long inputs, images as input and the latest release. Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo for high-volume, cost-sensitive work and writing and code generation.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or GPT-3.5 Turbo?
GPT-3.5 Turbo is 12% cheaper than Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite at the headline price ($0.75 / 1M tokens vs $0.85 / 1M tokens).
Which has the larger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or GPT-3.5 Turbo?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 16k.
What is the difference between Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and GPT-3.5 Turbo?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is made by Google and GPT-3.5 Turbo by OpenAI. GPT-3.5 Turbo is 12% cheaper than Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite at the headline price ($0.75 / 1M tokens vs $0.85 / 1M tokens). Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 16k. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is the newer model (July 2026, against March 2023). Only Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite offers vision, reasoning, prompt caching.
How much do Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and GPT-3.5 Turbo cost per month?
At 20 million input and 5 million output tokens a month, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $18.50 and GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $17.50, at standard rates.
Which is newer, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or GPT-3.5 Turbo?
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite was released on July 2026 and GPT-3.5 Turbo on March 2023.