The AI arena is free today

Open Superagent

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs MAI-Thinking-1

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MAI-Thinking-1 are closely matched at 30.1 and 32.9 on the LLM Stats Score.

Google · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MAI-Thinking-1 are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 30.1 and 32.9.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Choose MAI-Thinking-1

  • you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Google
MAI-Thinking-1
Microsoft
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
30.1
#113
32.9
#96
Reasoning
26.1
#139
33.7
#87
Coding
16.2
#120
19.3
#100
Agents
15.4
#78
12.4
#94
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 1
0 of 1
Input price
$0.30 / M
— / M
Output price
$2.50 / M
— / M
Context window
1,048,576
—

Individual benchmarks

6 reported for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite · 23 for MAI-Thinking-1

1 shared

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite outperforms in 1 benchmarks (SWE-Bench Pro), while MAI-Thinking-1 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Sep 05 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite specifies input context (1,048,576 tokens). Only Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite specifies output context (65,536 tokens).

Google
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Microsoft
MAI-Thinking-1
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sat Sep 05 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas MAI-Thinking-1 does not.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

Text
Images
Audio
Video

MAI-Thinking-1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

Proprietary

Closed source

MAI-Thinking-1

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite was released on 2026-07-21, while MAI-Thinking-1 was released on 2026-06-02.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 2 months newer than MAI-Thinking-1.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

Jul 21, 2026

1 months ago

1mo newer
MAI-Thinking-1

Jun 2, 2026

3 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-03-31, while MAI-Thinking-1's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite's training data extends to 2026-03-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without MAI-Thinking-1's cutoff date.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

Mar 2026

MAI-Thinking-1

—

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MAI-Thinking-1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
✓ Preferred
MAI-Thinking-1
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs MAI-Thinking-1.

Which is better, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or MAI-Thinking-1?

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MAI-Thinking-1 are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 30.1 and 32.9. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is made by Google and MAI-Thinking-1 is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite compare to MAI-Thinking-1 in benchmarks?

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite scores CharXiv-R: 76.5%, OSWorld-Verified: 74.0%, SWE-Bench Pro: 54.2%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 54.0%, MLE-Bench: 39.2%. MAI-Thinking-1 scores LongFact: 98.0%, AIME 2025: 97.0%, AIME 2026: 94.5%, GraphWalks: 90.0%, AIR-Bench: 88.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MAI-Thinking-1?

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite supports 1.0M tokens and MAI-Thinking-1 supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MAI-Thinking-1?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (30.1 vs 32.9), multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and MAI-Thinking-1?

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is developed by Google and MAI-Thinking-1 is developed by Microsoft.

Related comparisons