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Head-to-head comparison

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Qwen3.8 27B

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (Google) and Qwen3.8 27B (Qwen) 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 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Qwen3.8 27B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#16 vs #21); Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is 1.3× cheaper per output token ($2.50/1M vs $3.20/1M); Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite offers the longer context window (1M vs 262K tokens); and Qwen3.8 27B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite if…

  • API cost matters — $2.50/1M output tokens against $3.20/1M, about 1.3× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.30/1M against $0.45/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 262K.

Choose Qwen3.8 27B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #16 against #21 (69.6 vs 65.7 points).
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3.8 27B ships open weights while Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 3 listed API providers against 2.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 52.0 against 37.4.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3.8 27B was listed 14 August 2026, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 21 July 2026.

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Qwen3.8 27B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Qwen3.8 27B
FieldGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogleQwen3.8 27BQwen
ModelCap Index position#21#16
Index score65.769.6
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.30$0.45
Output price / 1M tokens$2.50$3.20
Context window1M tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens66K131K
API providers listed23
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, Image, Video, File, AudioText, Image, Video
First listed21 July 202614 August 2026
PublisherGoogleQwen

Evidence: 5 public benchmark observations across 5 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Qwen3.8 27B

Public benchmark boards where Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Qwen3.8 27B has a published result
BoardGemini 3.5 Flash LiteQwen3.8 27BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)15031493–1513—Only one result
LMArena AgentLMArena-10.4%-11.6%–-9.2%—Only one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation10.3%High—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis37.4intelligence-index52.0intelligence-indexQwen3.8 27B

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 Qwen3.8 27B: common questions

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than Qwen3.8 27B?

Qwen3.8 27B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #16 against #21. 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.

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite cheaper than Qwen3.8 27B?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is cheaper on output tokens: $2.50/1M against $3.20/1M. Input tokens are $0.30/1M for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and $0.45/1M for Qwen3.8 27B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Qwen3.8 27B?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 262K.

Which is better for coding, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Qwen3.8 27B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Qwen3.8 27B open-weight models?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: API only. Qwen3.8 27B: Open weights. 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 Qwen3.8 27B?

ModelCap currently lists 2 API providers for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and 3 for Qwen3.8 27B, 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 Qwen3.8 27B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 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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