AI model comparison

Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite vs Gemma 3 27B

Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is a lightweight reasoning model in the Gemini 2.5 family, optimized for ultra-low latency and cost efficiency.

Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is scheduled to be retired on October 20, 2026. Consider Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite instead.

Input / 1M
$0.10
Output / 1M
$0.40
Context
1.05M

Gemma 3 introduces multimodality, supporting vision-language input and text outputs.

Input / 1M
$0.08
Output / 1M
$0.45
Context
131K

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

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Gemma 3 27B

1.0x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

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Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite

10.4 vs 4.9 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

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Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite

1.05M vs 131K tokens

Newer release

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Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite

Released July 22, 2025

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

google logoGemini 2.5 Flash Lite10.4
google logoGemma 3 27B4.9

Coding index

google logoGemini 2.5 Flash LiteNot available
google logoGemma 3 27B10.1

Agentic index

google logoGemini 2.5 Flash LiteNot available
google logoGemma 3 27B0.1

Pricing

Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite vs Gemma 3 27B API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricgoogle logoGemini 2.5 Flash Litegoogle logoGemma 3 27B
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$0.10$0.08
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$0.40$0.45
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens$0.01$0.04
Cache writePer 1M tokens$0.08Not available
Web searchPer request$0.014Not available

What it costs in practice

Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.

Chat message

2K in, 500 out

google logoGemini 2.5 Flash Lite$0.40
google logoGemma 3 27B$0.39

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

google logoGemini 2.5 Flash Lite$4.60$1.90 cached
google logoGemma 3 27B$4.20$3 cached

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

google logoGemini 2.5 Flash Lite$15.80$2.30 cached
google logoGemma 3 27B$12.90$6.90 cached

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricgoogle logoGemini 2.5 Flash Litegoogle logoGemma 3 27B
Context window1.05M tokens131K tokens
Max output66K tokens118K tokens
Input typesAudio, File, Image, Text, VideoImage, Text
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsNot availableNot available
Default reasoning effortNot availableNot available
Release dateJuly 22, 2025March 12, 2025

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricgoogle logoGemini 2.5 Flash Litegoogle logoGemma 3 27B
Tool callingSupportedSupported
Structured outputsSupportedSupported
JSON modeSupportedSupported
ReasoningSupportedNot supported
TemperatureSupportedSupported
Stop sequencesSupportedSupported
Deterministic seedSupportedSupported
Verbosity controlNot supportedNot supported

Our take

Gemma 3 27B is 1.0x cheaper for a typical chat. Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (10.4 vs 4.9). Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite has the larger context window (1.05M vs 131K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or Gemma 3 27B cheaper?

Gemma 3 27B is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Gemma 3 27B costs $0.08 per 1M input tokens and $0.45 per 1M output tokens, while Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.40 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or Gemma 3 27B?

Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 131K for Gemma 3 27B.

Is Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite smarter than Gemma 3 27B?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite scores 10.4 and Gemma 3 27B scores 4.9, putting Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite and Gemma 3 27B at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite and Gemma 3 27B answer side by side and keep the better response.

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Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite and Gemma 3 27B at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.