Gemini 1.5 Flash vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct leads the LLM Stats Score 12.1 to 6.0. Gemini 1.5 Flash is 1.4x cheaper per token.
Google · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct leads the overall LLM Stats Score 12.1 to 6.0, ranking #252 overall.
In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct wins 4; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Gemini 1.5 Flash is roughly 1.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Gemini 1.5 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Gemini 1.5 Flash
- cost matters — it's about 1.4x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
Choose Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
- overall performance matters — it scores 12.1 and ranks #252 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 5 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2024
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
22 reported for Gemini 1.5 Flash · 14 for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Gemini 1.5 Flash outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is better at 4 benchmarks (GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Gemini 1.5 Flash ($0.15/1M tokens) is 2.3x cheaper than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct ($0.35/1M tokens).
For output processing, Gemini 1.5 Flash ($0.60/1M tokens) is 1.5x more expensive than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct ($0.40/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is more expensive than Gemini 1.5 Flash.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Gemini 1.5 Flash accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Qwen2.5 72B Instruct's 131,072 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 8,192 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Gemini 1.5 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen2.5 72B Instruct does not.
Gemini 1.5 Flash can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Gemini 1.5 Flash
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Gemini 1.5 Flash is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct uses Qwen.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Qwen
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Gemini 1.5 Flash was released on 2024-05-01, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19.
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is 5 months newer than Gemini 1.5 Flash.
May 1, 2024
2.4 years ago
Sep 19, 2024
2.0 years ago
4mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Gemini 1.5 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-11-01, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Gemini 1.5 Flash's training data extends to 2023-11-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen2.5 72B Instruct's cutoff date.
Nov 2023
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Provider Availability
Gemini 1.5 Flash is available from Google. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Fireworks, Together.
Gemini 1.5 Flash
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Gemini 1.5 Flash and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Gemini 1.5 Flash vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct.