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Head-to-head comparison

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs GPT-5.6 Terra

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (Google) and GPT-5.6 Terra (OpenAI) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 28 September 2026

As of 28 September 2026, GPT-5.6 Terra holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#23 vs #28); and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is 4.8× cheaper per output token ($2.50/1M vs $12.00/1M).

Which should you choose?

Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite if…

  • API cost matters — $2.50/1M output tokens against $12.00/1M, about 4.8× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.30/1M against $2.00/1M.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite was listed 21 July 2026, GPT-5.6 Terra 9 July 2026.

Choose GPT-5.6 Terra if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #23 against #28 (76.1 vs 71.5 points).
  • you want provider choice — 3 listed API providers against 2.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1516 against 1503.
  • ARC-AGI-2 is your yardstick — 83.9% against 10.3%.
  • AA Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 42.1 against 22.2.
  • AA Humanity's Last Exam is your yardstick — 42.9% against 18.8%.

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs GPT-5.6 Terra: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and GPT-5.6 Terra
FieldGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogleGPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI
ModelCap Index position#28#23
Index score71.576.1
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.30$2.00
Output price / 1M tokens$2.50$12.00
Context window1M tokens1M tokens
Max output tokens66K128K
API providers listed23
Weight accessAPI onlyAPI only
Input modalitiesText, Image, Video, File, AudioFile, Image, Text
First listed21 July 20269 July 2026
PublisherGoogleOpenAI

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · 6 public benchmark observations across 6 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs GPT-5.6 Terra

Public benchmark boards where Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or GPT-5.6 Terra has a published result
BoardGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGPT-5.6 TerraLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)15031496–151015161509–1523X-HighGPT-5.6 Terra
LMArena AgentLMArena—0.8%-0.3%–1.9%X-HighOnly one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation10.3%High83.9%MaxGPT-5.6 Terra
ARC-AGI-3ARC Prize Foundation—0.8%MaxOnly one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis22.2Reasoning42.1MaxGPT-5.6 Terra
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis—86.3%MaxOnly one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis18.8%Reasoning42.9%MaxGPT-5.6 Terra
Terminal-Bench 4.0Terminal-Bench (Laude Institute)—21.5%18.3%–24.8%Codex · MaxOnly one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs GPT-5.6 Terra: common questions

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than GPT-5.6 Terra?

GPT-5.6 Terra ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 28 September 2026: #23 against #28. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite cheaper than GPT-5.6 Terra?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is cheaper on output tokens: $2.50/1M against $12.00/1M. Input tokens are $0.30/1M for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and $2.00/1M for GPT-5.6 Terra. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $1.85 for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite versus $10.00 for GPT-5.6 Terra. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs 81.5% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or GPT-5.6 Terra?

Both publish a 1M-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or GPT-5.6 Terra?

Arena coding: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1503, GPT-5.6 Terra 1516 — GPT-5.6 Terra leads.

Are Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and GPT-5.6 Terra open-weight models?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: API only. GPT-5.6 Terra: API only. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and GPT-5.6 Terra?

ModelCap currently lists 2 API providers for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and 3 for GPT-5.6 Terra, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs GPT-5.6 Terra comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 28 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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