Model comparison

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Qwen3 Max

Qwen3 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.7 to 40.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite costs 4.3× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 27 shared benchmarks.

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Google

40.8

Rank #144 Confirmed

Qwen3 Max Alibaba (Qwen)

43.7

Rank #87 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 27 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite scores higher in 3 categories and Qwen3 Max in 5 categories; 6 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3 Max leads 48.1 to 41.9.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is NYT Connections (extended): 8.2% for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and 30.1% for Qwen3 Max.
  • Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is cheaper at $0.25 / $1.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1.20 / $6 for Qwen3 Max.
  • Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 262K.

Side by side

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Qwen3 Max specifications
Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
ProviderGoogleAlibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index40.843.7
Released2026-03-032025-09-23
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
Context window1.05M262K
Max output66K66K
Input $ / M tokens$0.25$1.20
Output $ / M tokens$1.50$6
Results tracked3833

Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry

Category by category

Coding Qwen3 Max leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 37.8 (#188), Qwen3 Max: 43.0 (#93)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
LMArena Coding14001456
ALE-Bench797.73370.45
LMArena WebDev1256—
SciCode41.9%—
WeirdML52.2%—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 30.2 (#79), Qwen3 Max: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
DeepResearch Bench37.3%—
Vending-Bench 2—71.56

Reasoning Too close to call

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 22.9 (#186), Qwen3 Max: 22.6 (#190)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
Kagi LLM Benchmark67.2%72.5%
NYT Connections (extended)8.2%30.1%
Chess Puzzles25%4%
LMArena Hard Prompts14071448
DTBench76.8%82.1%
LMCA35%28.3%
Epoch Capabilities Index144.47142.38
CritPt1.1%—
EnigmaEval3%—
Thematic Generalization63.3%—
Mystery Game Puzzles—5%
ForecastBench54.4—

Math Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 40.7 (#90), Qwen3 Max: 38.7 (#131)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)27.7%18.9%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202580%73.3%
LMArena Math14281446
MATH Level 5—97.1%

Knowledge Qwen3 Max leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 41.9 (#104), Qwen3 Max: 48.1 (#78)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
GPQA Diamond81.8%72.6%
LMArena Expert13981455
Humanity's Last Exam8.6%—
SimpleQA Verified—48.7%
Vectara Hallucination Rate8.2%—

Multimodal Not comparable

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 39.4 (#60), Qwen3 Max: —

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
LMArena Vision1240—

Multilingual Qwen3 Max leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 52.3 (#86), Qwen3 Max: 53.7 (#62)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
LMArena Non-English14111429
LMArena Chinese14611478
LMArena French14241449
LMArena German14291463
LMArena Japanese14131397
LMArena Korean13921399
LMArena Russian14201428
LMArena Spanish14211462

Instruction Following Qwen3 Max leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 72.7 (#131), Qwen3 Max: 74.8 (#87)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
LMArena Instruction Following13771419

Long Context Too close to call

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 42.5 (#122), Qwen3 Max: 41.6 (#134)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
LMArena Longer Query13941438
Fiction.LiveBench—66.7%
CL-bench—14.5%

Writing & Preference Qwen3 Max leads

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 60.9 (#94), Qwen3 Max: 62.4 (#76)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.1 Flash LiteQwen3 Max
LMArena Text14161439
LMArena Creative Writing14011402
LMArena Multi-Turn14171446

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite better than Qwen3 Max?

Qwen3 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.7 to 40.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite costs 4.3× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Qwen3 Max?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is cheaper. It lists at $0.25 per million input tokens and $1.50 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Max lists at $1.20 and $6.

Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Qwen3 Max better for coding?

Qwen3 Max scores higher on coding benchmarks: 43.0 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 262K.

How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Qwen3 Max share?

27 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has 38 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3 Max has 33.

Related comparisons

Go deeper