Speed
Output tokens / second
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview overview
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview by Google
It supports text, structured data, and limited image inputs, enabling richer AI-powered applications without slowing down your infrastructure. Its structured outputs and function-calling capabilities make it ideal for automation and tool integration.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview specs
- Model ID
google/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview- Developer
- Context window
- 1,000,000 tokens
- Max output
- 65,536 tokens
- Input
- Text, Image
- Output
- Text
- API
- OpenAI-compatible, base URL
https://api.aimlapi.com/v1
What is Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Preview?
Google's fastest reasoning model in the Gemini 3.1 family, built for high-volume production workloads.
Released in March 2026, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Preview is Google's latest entry in the lightweight, high-throughput reasoning category. Unlike prior Flash models that prioritized speed above all else, the 3.1 Flash-Lite introduces genuine chain-of-thought reasoning while keeping costs accessible, something most competing models at this price tier don't offer.
What sets it apart on raw numbers: at 389 tokens per second, it ranks second out of 132 models tracked by Artificial Analysis. That's not a marginal edge, it's nearly four times faster than the category median of 97 tokens per second. For developers building customer-facing products where latency directly affects user satisfaction, this gap matters.
Technical Specifications
| Specification | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Model type | Reasoning (CoT) | Chain-of-thought enabled |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | ~1,500 A4 pages |
| Input modalities | Text, image, audio, video | Full multimodal support |
| Output modality | Text | Structured JSON supported |
| Output speed | ~389 tokens/sec | #2 of 132 models ranked |
| Time to first token | ~5.18 seconds | Includes reasoning warmup |
| Intelligence score | 34 (AA Index) | Category avg: 19 |
| Release date | March 3, 2026 | Preview status |
Higher Rate Limits for Real Traffic
A model is only useful at scale if it can actually handle demand. Gemini 3.1 Flash is a strong choice for workloads that need higher throughput and more generous rate limits than heavier model classes. That gives developers more room to serve bursts of traffic, run parallel tasks, and avoid unnecessary throttling when usage spikes.
In practical terms, that means fewer bottlenecks and less engineering time spent working around platform limits. Instead of designing your product around model constraints, you can design your product around user needs.
Speed that improves the user experience
Fast inference is not just a technical perk. It changes how people feel about your product. When responses arrive quickly, the experience feels more natural, more intelligent, and more trustworthy. Gemini 3.1 Flash is built for that kind of responsiveness, which is why it works so well in user-facing applications.
Whether you are building an AI assistant, a search feature, or a live workflow tool, latency can make or break the experience. A model that responds quickly helps keep the interaction fluid and reduces the sense that the system is “thinking too long.”
Great for lightweight, repeated tasks
Not every request needs a large reasoning model. In fact, many production systems work better with a faster model that handles routine tasks cleanly and consistently. Gemini 3.1 Flash is especially useful when the same kind of operation runs over and over again: classify this text, extract that field, summarize this note, route this request, generate this response.
What can you build with it?
The combination of reasoning capability, multimodal input, and raw throughput opens up a wide range of real production use cases.
Use cases
High-volume translation is a documented use case for Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Preview, including processing chat messages, reviews, and support tickets at scale.
Content moderation is also explicitly cited as a task this model can handle at scale when cost is a priority.
Generating user interfaces and dashboards is listed as a more complex workload the model is suited to.
Creating simulations is another documented use case for the model, alongside following instructions in more in-depth reasoning tasks.
Capabilities
- Function calling
- Streaming
- Structured outputs
- Reasoning
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview benchmarks by 
Artificial Analysis
See how Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview compares in generation speed and latency. Data retrieved Nov 3, 2026.
Benchmark results
Compare 6 models available on AI/ML API across 5 independent benchmarks.
Humanity's Last Exam
Expert-written questions across academic subjects.
GPQA Diamond
Graduate-level science questions written to resist web search.
Terminal-Bench 4.0
Agentic tasks completed in a command-line environment.
AA-LCR
Reasoning across long documents of about 100k tokens.
SciCode
Python coding tasks drawn from scientific research.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview API pricing
| Usage | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.2645 | 1M tokens |
| Output | $1.59 | 1M tokens |
| Cached input | $0.0265 | 1M tokens |
Prices from the AI/ML API price list, checked on Nov 4, 2026.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview vs other models: token prices
AI/ML API input and output rates for 5 models, per million tokens.
| Model | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
 Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | $0.2645 | $1.59 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | $0.3 | $2.5 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $0.75 | $3.75 |
| Gemini 3.7 Flash | $0.75 | $3.75 |
| Gemini 4 Argon | $2 | $10 |
How to use the Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview API
View docs
Build with your agent
Give your agent the model details, code and documentation.
Paste it into your coding agent to build the integration.
1Get your API key
Create API keyexport AIMLAPI_KEY="8f2b4c7d9a1e6b3f…"2Make your first request
curl 'https://api.aimlapi.com/v1/chat/completions' \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AIMLAPI_KEY" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"model": "google/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview",
"messages": [
{
"role": "user",
"content": "Write a haiku about the ocean."
}
]
}'import os
import requests
headers = {
"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['AIMLAPI_KEY']}",
"Content-Type": "application/json",
}
payload = {
"model": "google/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview",
"messages": [
{
"role": "user",
"content": "Write a haiku about the ocean."
}
]
}
response = requests.post("https://api.aimlapi.com/v1/chat/completions", headers=headers, json=payload, timeout=120)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.json())const response = await fetch("https://api.aimlapi.com/v1/chat/completions", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.AIMLAPI_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"model": "google/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview",
"messages": [
{
"role": "user",
"content": "Write a haiku about the ocean."
}
]
}),
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status}`);
console.log(await response.json());Models similar to Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
Related articles
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview FAQ
What is the context window of Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a 1,000,000 tokens context window and can return up to 65,536 tokens.
What inputs and outputs does Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview support?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview takes image, text as input and returns text.
What is the model ID for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview?
Use google/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview as the model id. Requests go to https://api.aimlapi.com/v1/chat/completions.
How much does Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview cost?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs $0.2645 input and $1.59 output per 1M tokens on AI/ML API, billed as you go with no subscription.
Does Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview support streaming?
Yes, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview can stream responses as they are generated.
Can Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview read images?
Yes, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview accepts image input alongside text.
Who created Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview was built by Google.