Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Phi-4 Mini Instruct
At a Glance
| Compare |  Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteGoogle DeepMind |  Phi-4 Mini InstructMicrosoft |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $0.25Google AI ↗ · Aug 29, 2026 | Not reported |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $1.50Google AI ↗ · Aug 29, 2026 | Not reported |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 1,049K | 131K |
| Model facts checked | Aug 29, 2026View model evidence → | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Phi-4-mini-instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Google DeepMind | Microsoft |
| Family | Gemini 3 | Phi 4 Mini Instruct |
| Model | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Phi-4-mini-instruct |
| Version | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Phi-4-mini-instruct |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | Unknown | 2025-02-26 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video, Audio, Document | Text |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 1,049K | 131K |
| Total parameters | Unknown | 3.8B |
| Active parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| License | Unknown | mit |
| Open weights | No | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | Yes |
| Provider access | Google AI (Standard), Google Gemini (Standard) | Hugging Face (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, tools | chat, generation |
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Capabilities
Phi-4 Mini Instruct Capabilities
Related Comparisons
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|---|---|---|---|
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | vs |  GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | cross-developer peerstext |
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Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | vs | Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle DeepMind | family variantstext |
 DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek | vs | Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | cross-developer peerstext |
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peerstext |
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | vs |  Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peerstext |
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | vs |  Kimi-K3Moonshot AI | cross-developer peerstext |
 MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | cross-developer peerstext |
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peerstext |
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peerstext |
Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | vs | Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | cross-developer peerstext |
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle DeepMind | vs |  Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | cross-developer peerstext |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Phi-4 Mini Instruct FAQs
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Phi-4 Mini Instruct better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Phi-4 Mini Instruct, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Phi-4 Mini Instruct?+
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has a directly sourced input price: $0.25 per million tokens. Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has a directly sourced output price: $1.50 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Phi-4 Mini Instruct?+
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has the larger sourced context window. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite supports 1,049K and Phi-4 Mini Instruct supports 131K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Phi-4 Mini Instruct?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Phi-4 Mini Instruct be self-hosted?+
Phi-4 Mini Instruct is the only model in this pair currently marked as self-hostable. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is not marked open weight; Phi-4 Mini Instruct is open weight.
Can Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Phi-4 Mini Instruct understand images?+
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is documented with image input; Phi-4 Mini Instruct is not documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Phi-4 Mini Instruct?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is 66K and Phi-4 Mini Instruct is —.
Do Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Phi-4 Mini Instruct support reasoning and tool use?+
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Phi-4 Mini Instruct: none of these features are definitively sourced. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Phi-4 Mini Instruct?+
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has 2 sourced provider routes; Phi-4 Mini Instruct has 1, so Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Phi-4 Mini Instruct?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.