GPT 5.4 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview pricing
Side-by-side token pricing for GPT 5.4 (OpenAI) and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview (Google Gemini), plus the total cost at three workload sizes so the crossover point is obvious. Prices refreshed 2026-10-28 12:57 UTC.
Reviewed by Mohammad Ghonchegi · dataset generated 2026-10-28 12:57 UTC · every figure below is recomputed from it on each refresh · how the numbers are produced
Which one is cheaper, and for what
GPT 5.4 and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview sit at different points on the price curve: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview charges $0.25 per million input tokens against $2.5 for GPT 5.4 — a 10.0× gap before any discount. On output they are billed at $15 and $1.5 respectively, which matters because output tokens are usually the larger line item once a workload is chatty. Blended 3:1 toward input, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview comes out cheaper overall.
Workload shape decides the winner more often than the headline rate does. A prompt-heavy job (long documents, short answers) favours Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview, because input dominates the bill. A completion-heavy job (short prompts, long answers) narrows the gap, because GPT 5.4 is only dearer on the input side: at $2.5 versus $0.25 per million input, a workload whose input is a small share of the total can land within a few percent of the cheaper option. Cache pricing changes this again: GPT 5.4 caches input at $0.25 versus $0.025 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview, so a system prompt resent on every call is cheaper on Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview.
Both columns come from the same pipeline and the same unit (USD per million tokens, refreshed together), so the comparison is like-for-like on price. It is not a quality comparison: identical token prices say nothing about accuracy, latency or rate limits, and enterprise agreements, regional pricing and batch modes are excluded. Confirm against each provider's own pricing page before committing to a contract.
| Metric | GPT 5.4 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Input $/1M tokens | $2.5 | $0.25 |
| Output $/1M tokens | $15 | $1.5 |
| Cached input $/1M | $0.25 | $0.025 |
| Context window | 1.1M | 1.0M |
| Max output | 128K | 66K |
| Vision | yes | yes |
| Tool calling | yes | yes |
| Cache pricing | yes | yes |
Total cost by workload
| Workload | GPT 5.4 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M tokens in · 300K out | $7 | $0.7 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview (90% less) |
| 10M tokens in · 3M out | $70 | $7 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview (90% less) |
| 100M tokens in · 30M out | $700 | $70 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview (90% less) |
On blended cost (weighted 3:1 toward input), Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview comes out cheaper by roughly 90% on input pricing. Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview when the workload is price-sensitive and its context window covers your prompts; GPT 5.4 is the one to benchmark if you need vision, reasoning depth, or a different quality profile.
Frequently asked
› Is GPT 5.4 cheaper than Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview?
On input pricing, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview is cheaper ($0.25 vs $2.5 per 1M tokens). On blended cost the winner is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview, because output tokens are weighted differently for most workloads.
› Which has the larger context window?
GPT 5.4 offers the larger context (1.1M tokens).
› Do these prices include prompt caching?
Cached input is priced separately where a provider publishes a cache rate; the table above lists it per model so the comparison stays like-for-like.