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EXISTING USERS ONLYGEMINI 2.5 LITE1M CONTEXTMULTIMODALCONTEXT CACHINGBATCH + FLEX -50%

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite API Pricing

Existing users only: since September 18, 2026, Google serves Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite only to accounts that have used it before. It is not deprecated and has no shutdown date, but new projects are pointed to Gemini 3.8 Flash or Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite. Google's smallest Gemini 2.5 tier for at-scale usage where cost dominates peak capability: $0.1/M input, $0.4/M output, and $0.01/M cached input. Pulled directly from ai.google.dev.

Input - per 1M tokens
$0.10/M
Text/image/video standard
Output - per 1M tokens
$0.40/M
Includes thinking tokens standard
Cached input - 90% off
$0.01/M
Cache plus storage fee -90%
Effective - agentic blend
$0.0561/M
92/8 split - 82% cache
§ 01 / TERMINAL

Run the numbers.

Live calculator pre-loaded with current Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite standard rates. Standard text, image, and video input is $0.10/M; audio input is $0.30/M; output includes thinking tokens.

$ /mo
Workload split
Prompt cache hit rate
Tokens you can process
—
Words equivalent (English)
—
Effective rate
—
Open full calculator (all models · share URL · CSV) →
§ 02 / SCENARIOS

Real-world presets.

CODING

Coding agent iteration

$0.0053/task
80k in / 8k out~18,882 tasks/$100
LONG CONTEXT

Document pack analysis

$0.00724/pack
200k in / 5k out~13,812 packs/$100
MULTIMODAL

Video + docs briefing

$0.00199/brief
30k in / 3k out~50,352 briefs/$100
AGENT

Research agent loop

$0.00714/loop
120k in / 10k out~13,997 loops/$100
RAG

Large RAG synthesis

$0.00873/answer
150k in / 12k out~11,454 answers/$100
§ 03 / TOKENIZER

Paste text. See tokens. See cost.

What's a token →
Estimate · gemini-tokenizer-estimate · ≈3.85 chars/token Auto-counts as you type

This is a chars-per-token approximation, not a real tokenizer. Actual tokens vary by language, code density, and tool-call overhead — counts are typically ±10–20% off for English prose, more for code or non-Latin scripts. For exact billing, use the vendor's official tokenizer.

Characters 355
Words 53
Tokens (estimated) 92 tokens
Cost as input · uncached $0.00001 USD
Cost as output · uncached $0.00004 USD
Cost as cached input $0.000001 USD
§ 04 / SHELF

Up against the shelf.

All models →
Model Input /M Output /M Effective blended Context Best for
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview $2.00 cache $0.20 $12.00 $1.44 +26× 1M Google frontier preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.50 cache $0.05 $3.00 $0.361 +6.4× 1M Cheaper Gemini 3 preview
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite $0.25 cache $0.025 $1.50 $0.18 deprecated · +3.2× 1M High-volume Gemini 3.1
Gemini 2.5 Pro $1.25 cache $0.125 $10.00 $1.10 legacy · +20× 1M Stable Gemini 2.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Flash $0.30 cache $0.03 $2.50 $0.272 legacy · +4.9× 1M Best price-performance Gemini 2.5
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Current $0.10 cache $0.01 $0.40 $0.0561 agentic 92/8 1M Cheapest stable Gemini 2.5
GPT-5.4 $2.50 cache $0.25 $15.00 $1.80 +32× 1.05M Affordable OpenAI frontier work
GPT-5.4 mini $0.75 cache $0.075 $4.50 $0.541 +9.6× 400K Subagents and lightweight coding

Frequently asked.

Practical Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite pricing questions, with Google token rates separated from workload assumptions.

Q · 01 Can a new project still use Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite? +
Not on the Gemini API. On September 18, 2026 Google limited the 2.5 models to users who have actively used them in the past. Google says they are not deprecated and will keep being served until further notice, so existing integrations keep working at the rates on this page, but a new account cannot switch them on. For new projects Google recommends Gemini 3.8 Flash or Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
Q · 02 What is Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite's standard API price? +
Google lists gemini-2.5-flash-lite at $0.10/M input, $0.01/M cached input, and $0.40/M output for text, image, and video workloads. Audio input is listed separately at $0.30/M.
Q · 03 Does output pricing include thinking tokens? +
Yes. Google's pricing page labels output as Output price (including thinking tokens). This page treats generated reasoning and answer tokens as part of the published output rate.
Q · 04 How much do Batch and Flex cost? +
Google lists Batch and Flex at $0.05/M input for text, image, and video, $0.15/M audio input, and $0.20/M output. Context caching is $0.01/M for text, image, and video and $0.03/M for audio.
Q · 05 Is this a preview model? +
No. Google's models page lists Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite as the fastest and most budget-friendly multimodal model in the 2.5 family.
Q · 06 What about Google Search grounding costs? +
For Gemini 2.5 models, Google lists free daily grounding allowances and then paid grounded-prompt pricing. Tool charges are separate from token prices and should be budgeted outside token spend.
Q · 07 How accurate is the tokenizer estimate? +
The widget uses 4.0 characters per token as a Gemini planning estimate. Exact billing can differ by language, media inputs, tool calls, and how Google tokenizes multimodal content.
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Reviewed by Yaroslav Vikhariev Founder · AI//COST · Prices checked by hand against ai.google.dev · Last verified Oct 13, 2026
Methodology Report a correction More by Y.V.