Million-context for $1.25 in versus the cheapest Gemini.
grok-4.3 · xai
gemini-3.5-flash-lite · google
Benchmark
| Workload Scenario | Grok 4.3 | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Price Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M input tokens (raw text) | $1.25 | $0.30 | +$0.95 |
| 1M output tokens (generation) | $2.50 | $2.50 | — |
| 1M tokens · 70% input / 30% output mix | $1.625 | $0.96 | +$0.665 |
| Standard chat turn (4K in / 800 out, 50% cached) | $0.0049 | $0.00266 | +$0.00224 |
| Monthly scale (10K requests / day) | $1,470.00 | $798.00 | +$672.00 |
Negative difference = Grok 4.3 is cheaper. Positive = Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper.
Scaling Curve
Total cost of a token volume at 70/30 input/output split (uncached). Log-log scale.
Verdict
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper on both input and output rates, so it costs less at every input/output mix. Price alone still isn't the whole decision: capability, latency and context limits (Grok 4.3: 1M, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: 1M) may justify the premium for your task.
FAQ
On input, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper ($0.30/M vs $1.25/M). On output, Grok 4.3 is cheaper ($2.50/M vs $2.50/M). The same model is cheaper on both sides, so it wins at every mix.
A chat-style request (4,000 input + 800 output tokens, 50% cached) costs $0.0049 on Grok 4.3 and $0.00266 on Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite — Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is 1.8× more expensive for that workload.
Grok 4.3 supports 1,000,000 tokens (32.8K max output); Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite supports 1,048,576 (65.5K max output). Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite fits 1.0× more context, which matters for long documents and agents.