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Gemini 3 Flash 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 3 Flash specs · Yi-Lightning specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceYi-Lightning

    Yi-Lightning publishes pricing ($0.14 / 1M output tokens) while Gemini 3 Flash does not.

  • Context windowGemini 3 Flash

    Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 16K, 65.5× 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 3 Flash

    Gemini 3 Flash supports 4 modalities (text, vision, audio, video) vs 1 for Yi-Lightning.

  • OpennessTie

    Both are closed-weight, API-only.

On balance Gemini 3 Flash edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Yi-Lightning's 1. Yi-Lightning publishes pricing ($0.14 / 1M output tokens) while Gemini 3 Flash does not. Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 16K, 65.5× 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 3 Flash 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 3 Flash is the newer of the two, released 14 months after Yi-Lightning, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Gemini 3 Flash is usually picked for rag and summarization 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

SpecGemini 3 FlashYi-Lightning
ProviderGoogleOther
ReleasedDec 2025Oct 2024
Modalitiestext, vision, audio, videotext
Context window1.0M tokens16K tokens
Max output65.5K tokens,
Input · 1MPricing not published$0.14 / 1M tokens
Output · 1MPricing not published$0.14 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff2025-01,
Open weightsNoNo
API availableYesYes

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, vs $0.630
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $6.30
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $21.84

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Gemini 3 FlashPricing unavailable
  • 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.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick Gemini 3 Flash if

Gemini 3 Flash fits when…

  • 1M-token context at mid-tier price
  • Very fast, good for interactive UX
  • Strong vision support
  • Long-context tasks, handles 1.0M tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
  • Multimodal needs covering vision, audio, video.
Pick Yi-Lightning if

Yi-Lightning fits when…

  • Cheap
  • Strong Chinese
  • Fast
Don't want either?

Consider Gemini 3 Pro

Google's late-2025 flagship, set new benchmarks on long-context, vision, and reasoning at competitive pricing.

See Gemini 3 Pro specsGemini 3 Flash vs Gemini 3 ProYi-Lightning vs Gemini 3 Pro

Frequently asked

  • Is Gemini 3 Flash or Yi-Lightning cheaper?
    Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
  • Is Gemini 3 Flash or Yi-Lightning better for coding?
    Both Gemini 3 Flash 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 3 Flash and Yi-Lightning released?
    Gemini 3 Flash was released by Google on 2025-12-09. Yi-Lightning was released by Other on 2024-10-16.
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