text model comparison
Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash are both current text models, from Google. Gemini 3.8 Flash is 50% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Gemini 3.6 Flash, $0.75 vs $1.50. On Arena Text, Gemini 3.6 Flash scores 1482 Elo and Gemini 3.8 Flash 1497 Elo (Arena, measured October 8, 2026). Both accept 1,048,576 tokens of context.
Data verified October 12, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-12
Side by side
Standard-tier prices in effect today. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M input tokens | $1.50 | $0.75 (better) |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $7.50 | $3.75 (better) |
| Cost of 10M input and 2M output tokens | $30 | $15 (better) |
| Arena Text | 1482 Elo (#13 of 39) | 1497 Elo (#4 of 39) (better) |
| GPQA Diamond | 94.1% (#8 of 37) | 95.4% (#3 of 37) (better) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 58.9% (#27 of 37) | 68.4% (#21 of 37) (better) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 66.2% (#11 of 34) | 69.7% (#7 of 34) (better) |
| Provider | ||
| Release date | July 21, 2026 | September 2, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API only |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Input | text, image, audio, video | text, image, audio, video |
| Output | text | text |
When to choose each
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Best for
- Current multimodal agentic evaluations balancing speed and capability
Watch out for
- Not in the pinned LiveBench snapshot; its independent scores here come from Epoch AI's own GPQA Diamond, FrontierMath and SimpleQA Verified runs
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Best for
- High-volume agentic and coding workloads where per-token cost dominates the decision
- Multimodal pipelines that need audio, video and PDF input in one model
Watch out for
- The listed price is promotional and ends 31 December 2026; on 1 January 2027 input and output both double, to $1.50 and $7.50, and cached input goes from $0.075 to $0.15
- Output pricing is billed inclusive of thinking tokens, so reasoning-heavy prompts cost more than the output length suggests
- Google’s published comparisons are against its own previous Flash release and were not independently reproduced here
Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash FAQ
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Gemini 3.8 Flash is 50% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Gemini 3.6 Flash, $0.75 vs $1.50. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $30 and Gemini 3.8 Flash $15 at standard rates.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on Arena Text, 1497 Elo to 1482 Elo; Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on GPQA Diamond, 95.4% to 94.1%; Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 68.4% to 58.9%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Both accept 1,048,576 tokens of context.
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Production evaluation
Choosing between Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty