Model comparison
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Llama 3.2 3B
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.8 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 4.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 13 shared benchmarks.
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MetaSummary
- They share 13 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite scores higher in 9 categories and Llama 3.2 3B in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads 60.9 to 24.7.
- Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.33 per million input/output tokens, against $0.25 / $1.50 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite.
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 131K.
- Llama 3.2 3B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | |
| Noometry Index | 40.8 | 28.9 |
| Released | 2026-03-03 | 2024-09-24 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1.05M | 131K |
| Max output | 66K | 118K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.25 | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.50 | $0.33 |
| Results tracked | 38 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 37.8 (#188), Llama 3.2 3B: 27.6 (#319)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1400 | 1098 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1256 | — |
| SciCode | 41.9% | — |
| WeirdML | 52.2% | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 23.4% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 28.3% |
| ALE-Bench | 797.73 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 30.2 (#79), Llama 3.2 3B: 20.1 (#143)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 21.9% |
| DeepResearch Bench | 37.3% | — |
| BALROG | — | 10.1% |
Reasoning Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 22.9 (#186), Llama 3.2 3B: 21.0 (#228)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1407 | 1095 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 67.2% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 8.2% | — |
| CritPt | 1.1% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 25% | — |
| EnigmaEval | 3% | — |
| Thematic Generalization | 63.3% | — |
| DTBench | 76.8% | — |
| LMCA | 35% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 144.47 | — |
| ForecastBench | 54.4 | — |
Math Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 40.7 (#90), Llama 3.2 3B: 32.4 (#214)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1428 | 1126 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 27.7% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 80% | — |
Knowledge Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 41.9 (#104), Llama 3.2 3B: 29.7 (#235)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1398 | 1090 |
| GPQA Diamond | 81.8% | — |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 8.6% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 8.2% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 39.4 (#60), Llama 3.2 3B: —
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1240 | — |
Multilingual Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 52.3 (#86), Llama 3.2 3B: 26.2 (#281)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1411 | 1019 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1461 | 1017 |
| LMArena German | 1429 | 1056 |
| LMArena Russian | 1420 | 949 |
| LMArena French | 1424 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1413 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1392 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1421 | — |
Instruction Following Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 72.7 (#131), Llama 3.2 3B: 56.0 (#275)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1377 | 1089 |
Long Context Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 42.5 (#122), Llama 3.2 3B: 33.4 (#261)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1394 | 1100 |
Writing & Preference Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 60.9 (#94), Llama 3.2 3B: 24.7 (#307)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1416 | 1110 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1401 | 1094 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1417 | 1105 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 595 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite better than Llama 3.2 3B?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.8 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 4.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Llama 3.2 3B?
Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.33 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite lists at $0.25 and $1.50.
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Llama 3.2 3B better for coding?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 37.8 versus 27.6 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite does, with 1.05M tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Llama 3.2 3B share?
13 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has 38 scored results on Noometry and Llama 3.2 3B has 18.