# Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Step 5 Preview

> Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 41.5 on the Noometry Index. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs 1.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemini-3-5-flash-lite-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 18

## Summary

- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite scores higher in 3 categories and Step 5 Preview in 6 categories; 6 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 5 Preview leads 46.1 to 25.9.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is ProofBench: 13% for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and 42% for Step 5 Preview.
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 1.02M.

## Snapshot

| | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 41.5 | 47.9 |
| Rank | 133 | 58 |
| Context | 1.05M | 1.02M |
| Input $/M | $0.30 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $2.50 | $2.70 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 42.4 (#104)
- Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1440 | 1564 |
| SciCode | 41.3% | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1453 | 1480 |
| WeirdML | 39% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 765.27 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 25.7 (#107)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 29.3% | — |
| GDP.pdf | 10% | — |

## Reasoning

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 27.8 (#114)
- Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 20.9% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1441 | 1465 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 10.3% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 60.4% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 53.5% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 22% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 19% | — |
| DTBench | 83.5% | — |
| LMCA | 37.6% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.13 | — |

## Math

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 25.9 (#264)
- Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| ProofBench | 13% | 42% |
| LMArena Math | 1433 | 1470 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 26% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 0% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 71.1% | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 50.1 (#72)
- Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1435 | 1470 |
| GPQA Diamond | 83.3% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 41.1 (#40)
- Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1268 | 1267 |

## Multilingual

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 53.5 (#63)
- Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1427 | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1469 | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | 1443 | 1436 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1442 | 1439 |
| LMArena French | 1451 | — |
| LMArena German | 1454 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1427 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1407 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 74.8 (#85)
- Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1420 | 1444 |

## Long Context

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 43.9 (#84)
- Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1435 | 1455 |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 64.2 (#57)
- Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)

| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1435 | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1420 | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1445 | 1447 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1559 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 41.5 on the Noometry Index. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs 1.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Step 5 Preview?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.

### Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 42.4 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite does, with 1.05M tokens against 1.02M.

### How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Step 5 Preview share?

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has 39 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.