Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash both come from Google, Gemini 3.6 Flash was released in July 2026, and Gemini 3.8 Flash followed 2 months later in September 2026.
The two models share 3 published benchmarks. Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on 2 of them, Gemini 3.6 Flash on 1. The widest gaps are on DeepSWE 1.1, where Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 73.7% against 49.0%; Terminal-Bench 2.1, where Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 89.4% against 78.0%. Averaged across everything we track, Gemini 3.6 Flash sits at 68.0% and Gemini 3.8 Flash at 59.2%.
Gemini 3.8 Flash is the cheaper API at $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens, roughly 2 times cheaper than Gemini 3.6 Flash at $1.50 and $7.50. Both accept a context window of about 1M tokens. Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text and images as input, while Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts text, images, audio, and video.
| Characteristic | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Company | ||
| Release Date | July 21, 2026 | September 2, 2026 |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 1.0M |
| Context (output) | 66K | 66K |
| Input Price / 1M | $1.50 | $0.75 |
| Output Price / 1M | $7.50 | $3.75 |
| Average Score | 68.0% | 59.2% |
| Benchmarks | ||
| DeepSWE 1.1 | 49.0% | 73.7% |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 78.0% | 89.4% |
| CharXiv-R | 89.0% | 86.2% |
Visual Benchmark Comparison
Verdict
Gemini 3.8 Flash leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: Gemini 3.6 Flash — 0.7, Gemini 3.8 Flash — 0.6.
Gemini 3.8 Flash is 2.0x cheaper: input $0.75/1M vs $1.50/1M tokens.
Same context size: 1M tokens.
Gemini 3.8 Flash is newer: released 9/2/2026 vs 7/21/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Which model is cheaper — Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Which has a larger context window — Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
The Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.