Noometry

Model comparison

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 40.8 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 18 shared benchmarks.

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Google

40.8

Rank #144 Confirmed

Step 3.5 Flash StepFun

42.3

Rank #116 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite scores higher in 4 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 4 categories; 5 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in coding, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 42.4 to 37.8.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is NYT Connections (extended): 8.2% for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and 28.4% for Step 3.5 Flash.
  • Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 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 256K.
  • Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
ProviderGoogleStepFun
Noometry Index40.842.3
Released2026-03-032026-01-29
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1.05M256K
Max output66K256K
Input $ / M tokens$0.25$0.10
Output $ / M tokens$1.50$0.30
Results tracked3819

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Category by category

Coding Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 37.8 (#188), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Coding14001436
LMArena WebDev1256—
SciCode41.9%—
WeirdML52.2%—
ALE-Bench797.73—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 30.2 (#79), Step 3.5 Flash: —

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
DeepResearch Bench37.3%—

Reasoning Too close to call

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 22.9 (#186), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
NYT Connections (extended)8.2%28.4%
LMArena Hard Prompts14071411
Kagi LLM Benchmark67.2%—
CritPt1.1%—
Chess Puzzles25%—
EnigmaEval3%—
Thematic Generalization63.3%—
DTBench76.8%—
LMCA35%—
Epoch Capabilities Index144.47—
ForecastBench54.4—

Math Step 3.5 Flash leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 40.7 (#90), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Math14281408
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)27.7%—
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions—66.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202580%—

Knowledge Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 41.9 (#104), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Expert13981421
GPQA Diamond81.8%—
Humanity's Last Exam8.6%—
Vectara Hallucination Rate8.2%—

Multimodal Not comparable

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 39.4 (#60), Step 3.5 Flash: —

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Vision1240—

Multilingual Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 52.3 (#86), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Non-English14111385
LMArena Chinese14611447
LMArena French14241421
LMArena German14291405
LMArena Japanese14131354
LMArena Korean13921352
LMArena Russian14201385
LMArena Spanish14211419

Instruction Following Too close to call

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 72.7 (#131), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Instruction Following13771385

Long Context Too close to call

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 42.5 (#122), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Longer Query13941402

Writing & Preference Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 60.9 (#94), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Text14161403
LMArena Creative Writing14011357
LMArena Multi-Turn14171405

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 40.8 on the Noometry Index.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite lists at $0.25 and $1.50.

Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 37.8 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite does, with 1.05M tokens against 256K.

How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Step 3.5 Flash share?

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has 38 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.

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