Model Comparison

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Step-3.5-Flash

Step-3.5-Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Step-3.5-Flash cost the same.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Step-3.5-Flash is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, SWE-Bench Verified).

Step-3.5-Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Step-3.5-Flash costs less

For input processing, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite ($0.10/1M tokens) costs the same as Step-3.5-Flash ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite ($0.40/1M tokens) costs the same as Step-3.5-Flash ($0.40/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and Step-3.5-Flash cost the same.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com
Google
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerGoogle
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerStepFun
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Step-3.5-Flash's 65,536 tokens. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite can generate longer responses up to 65,536 tokens, while Step-3.5-Flash is limited to 8,192 tokens.

Google
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
Input65,536 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas Step-3.5-Flash does not.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Step-3.5-Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, while Step-3.5-Flash uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

Open weights

Step-3.5-Flash

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite was released on 2025-06-17, while Step-3.5-Flash was released on 2026-02-02.

Step-3.5-Flash is 8 months newer than Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Jun 17, 2025

10 months ago

Step-3.5-Flash

Feb 2, 2026

2 months ago

7mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-01, while Step-3.5-Flash's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite's training data extends to 2025-01-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Step-3.5-Flash's cutoff date.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Jan 2025

Step-3.5-Flash

—

Provider Availability

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is available from Google. Step-3.5-Flash is available from StepFun.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M

Step-3.5-Flash

stepfun logo
StepFun
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google
Larger context window (1,048,576 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
StepFun
Higher AIME 2025 score (97.3% vs 49.8%)
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (74.4% vs 31.6%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash

FAQ

Common questions about Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Step-3.5-Flash

Step-3.5-Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is made by Google and Step-3.5-Flash is made by StepFun. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite scores FACTS Grounding: 84.1%, Global-MMLU-Lite: 81.1%, MMMU: 72.9%, GPQA: 64.6%, Vibe-Eval: 51.3%. Step-3.5-Flash scores AIME 2025: 97.3%, Tau-bench: 88.2%, LiveCodeBench v6: 86.4%, IMO-AnswerBench: 85.4%, SWE-Bench Verified: 74.4%.
Both models cost $0.10 per million input tokens.
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite supports 1.0M tokens and Step-3.5-Flash supports 66K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.
Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 66K), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is developed by Google and Step-3.5-Flash is developed by StepFun.