Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Yi-Lightning
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Gemini 2.5 Pro specs · Yi-Lightning specs- PriceYi-Lightning
Yi-Lightning is roughly 71.4× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $10.00 per 1M).
- Context windowGemini 2.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Pro accepts 2.1M tokens vs 16K, 131.1× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesGemini 2.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Pro supports 4 modalities (text, vision, audio, video) vs 1 for Yi-Lightning.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance Gemini 2.5 Pro edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Yi-Lightning's 1. Yi-Lightning is roughly 71.4× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $10.00 per 1M). Gemini 2.5 Pro accepts 2.1M tokens vs 16K, 131.1× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Gemini 2.5 Pro handles text, vision, audio, video while Yi-Lightning handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Gemini 2.5 Pro is the newer of the two, released 5 months after Yi-Lightning, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Gemini 2.5 Pro is usually picked for long context and rag workloads, while Yi-Lightning sees more deployments in chinese llm and cheapest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Gemini 2.5 Pro | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Other | |
| Released | Mar 2025 | Oct 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision, audio, video | text |
| Context window | 2.1M tokens | 16K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $1.25 / 1M tokens | $0.14 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $10.00 / 1M tokens | $0.14 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-01 | , |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$18.75 vs $0.630
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$188 vs $6.30
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$248 vs $21.84
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $18.75 vs $0.630 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $188 vs $6.30 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $248 vs $21.84 per month, model B comes out ahead.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Gemini 2.5 Pro$0.625
- Yi-Lightning$0.021
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU86.0
- GPQA84.0
Gemini 2.5 Pro fits when…
- 2M-token context window
- Strong on long-document tasks
- Native multimodal handling
- Long-context tasks, handles 2.1M tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
- Multimodal needs covering vision, audio, video.
Yi-Lightning fits when…
- Cheap
- Strong Chinese
- Fast
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 71.4× cheaper than Gemini 2.5 Pro on output tokens.
Consider Gemini 3 Pro
Google's late-2025 flagship, set new benchmarks on long-context, vision, and reasoning at competitive pricing.
Frequently asked
Is Gemini 2.5 Pro or Yi-Lightning cheaper?
Yi-Lightning is cheaper at $0.14 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $10.00 / 1M tokens for Gemini 2.5 Pro.Which has the larger context window?
Gemini 2.5 Pro accepts 2.1M tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.Is Gemini 2.5 Pro or Yi-Lightning better for coding?
Both Gemini 2.5 Pro and Yi-Lightning are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.When were Gemini 2.5 Pro and Yi-Lightning released?
Gemini 2.5 Pro was released by Google on 2025-03-25. Yi-Lightning was released by Other on 2024-10-16.
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