Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Grok 4.3: pricing and benchmarks
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 76% cheaper on input tokens ($0.30 vs $1.25 per 1M). Both charge $2.50 per 1M output tokens. On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $195.00 a month versus $575.00 for Grok 4.3, 66% less. Epoch AI has not published a capability index score for Grok 4.3 yet.
Prices verified September 14, 2026.
Which should you choose?
Epoch AI has not published a capability index score for Grok 4.3 yet.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.85 per 1M tokens (3:1 input-to-output mix) vs $1.563 for Grok 4.3, 46% less.
Pricing and specs
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Grok 4.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | |
| API model ID | gemini-3.5-flash-lite | grok-4.3 |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.30 | $1.25 |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.03 | $0.20 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $2.50 | $2.50 |
| Long-context rates | — | $2.50 in / $5.00 out above 200K prompt tokens |
| Context window | 1.05M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Max output | 66K tokens | — |
| Batch discount | 50% off | — |
Benchmarks
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Grok 4.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.1 | — |
| GPQA Diamond· Science reasoning | 77.8% | — |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3)· Advanced math | 26.0% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified· Factual accuracy | — | — |
| ARC-AGI-2· Abstract reasoning | 10.3% | — |
| DeepSWE· Coding | — | — |
| APEX-Agents· Agentic work | — | — |
Source: Epoch AI, best recorded result per model (CC BY 4.0). A dash means no published score. See all benchmarks
Monthly cost for real workloads
| Workload | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Grok 4.3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Support chatbot 100,000 replies a month, ~1,500 input tokens (system prompt + history) and ~400 output tokens each. | $145.00 | $287.50 | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite 50% cheaper |
Document Q&A (RAG) 50,000 questions a month with ~8,000 tokens of retrieved context and ~600 output tokens each. | $195.00 | $575.00 | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite 66% cheaper |
Coding agent 10,000 agent steps a month, ~40,000 input tokens each (70% read from the prompt cache) and ~2,000 output tokens. | $94.40 | $256.00 | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite 63% cheaper |
Estimates use standard list prices and ignore cache-write surcharges. Different tokenizers can count the same text differently, so test with your own prompts.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Grok 4.3 cost calculator
- $195.00/mo$0.0039 / request
- Grok 4.3xAI$575.00/mo$0.01 / request
Standard-tier list prices. Long-context rates apply automatically where the provider publishes a threshold. Excludes cache-write surcharges, taxes, batch and volume discounts.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite pricing notes
Google’s lowest-cost Gemini 3.5 model for high-volume work.
- The same input price applies to text, image, video and audio.
- Output price includes thinking tokens.
Grok 4.3 pricing notes
An earlier Grok 4 model with a 1M-token context window.
- Requests with 200K or more prompt tokens are billed at $2.50 input / $0.40 cached / $5 output for all tokens.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite cheaper than Grok 4.3?
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 76% cheaper on input tokens ($0.30 vs $1.25 per 1M). Both charge $2.50 per 1M output tokens. On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $195.00 a month versus $575.00 for Grok 4.3, 66% less.
- Which is more capable, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or Grok 4.3?
- Epoch AI has not published a capability index score for Grok 4.3 yet.
- How much does Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite cost per 1M tokens?
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens, and $0.03 per 1M cached input tokens on Google’s standard tier.
- How much does Grok 4.3 cost per 1M tokens?
- Grok 4.3 costs $1.25 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens, and $0.20 per 1M cached input tokens on xAI’s standard tier.
- Which has the larger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or Grok 4.3?
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has the larger context window: 1.05M tokens versus 1M for Grok 4.3.