AI model APIs · head-to-head
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Qwen-Plus
Same usage, official rates, ranked by nothing but price. Both rate cards, the monthly bill at five workloads, and the exact usage mix where the answer flips.
The pricing verdict Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is cheaper while output tokens make up less than 33% of your total volume; past that, Qwen-Plus takes over. Most chat and agent workloads run 20–30% output.
Rate cards
| Per 1M tokens | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Qwen-Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.25 | $0.40 |
| Cached input | $0.03 | — |
| Output | $1.5 | $1.2 |
| Context window | — | — |
Monthly cost at five workloads
| Workload | Tokens / month | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Qwen-Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype | 1M in · 0.3M out | $0.70 | $0.76 |
| Small app | 10M in · 3M out | $7 | $7.60 |
| Production app | 50M in · 15M out | $35 | $38 |
| High volume | 200M in · 60M out | $140 | $152 |
| Heavy platform | 1B in · 300M out | $700 | $760 |
Exact switch point
Cost per 1M blended tokens is $0.25→$1.5 for Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and $0.40→$1.2 for Qwen-Plus as your mix shifts from all-input to all-output. The lines cross at 33.3% output share — below it Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite wins, above it Qwen-Plus does. Long documents in, short answers out favours Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite; generation-heavy work favours Qwen-Plus.
Standard on-demand rates from each provider's official pricing page, verified July 2026; figures exclude caching and batch discounts and any long-context surcharges. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Text/image/video input rate; audio input bills at $0.50 per 1M. Qwen-Plus: Rates shown are for prompts ≤256k tokens; from 256k to 1M, input is $1.20 and output $3.60 per 1M. Price is one input — quality, latency and context limits differ. Confirm live pricing before committing.