Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash Verdict
- Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) are level on quality (60.8 vs 61.6).
- Gemini 3.6 Flash is stronger in coding, composite, knowledge, long context, maths, multimodal.
- Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) is stronger in agents & tools, instruction following.
- Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) is 1.3× cheaper ($1.13 vs $1.50 per 1M blended).
| Metric | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) |
|---|---|---|
| BenchLeader Index | 60.8 | 61.6 |
| Coding score | 49.8 | – |
| Composite score | 72.4 | 62.3 |
| Knowledge score | 74.7 | 69.0 |
| Long context score | 66.6 | 65.5 |
| Maths score | 54.8 | – |
| Multimodal score | 67.8 | 64.4 |
| Agents & tools score | – | 67.4 |
| Instruction following score | – | 75.4 |
| Blended price $/M | $1.50 | $1.13 |
| Output speed | 194 tok/s | 180 tok/s |
| Time to first answer | 16.8 s | 6.1 s |
| Context window | 1.0M | 1M |
| FrontierCode | 34.4% | – |
| ProofBench | 36.0% | – |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 154.3 | – |
| AA Intelligence Index | 34.3 | 26.3 |
| IFBench | – | 78.0% |
| AA-LCR | 80.0% | 78.0% |
| MMMU-Pro | 83.2% | 79.9% |
| AA-Omniscience | 22.1 | 10.1 |
| Terminal-Bench Hard | – | 38.6% |
| GPQA Diamond (AA) | 92.8% | 89.8% |
| Humanity's Last Exam (AA) | 40.8% | 36.6% |
| SciCode (AA) | 53.4% | – |
| τ²-Bench Telecom (AA) | – | 80.4% |
| AIME 2026 | 96.7% | – |
| HMMT February 2026 | 89.4% | – |
| MathArena Apex | 26.0% | – |
Data as of 2026-09-10. Best configuration of each model; every score links to its source on the model pages.
Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3 Flash: questions
- Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than Gemini 3 Flash?
- Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) are level on quality (60.8 vs 61.6). The BenchLeader Index combines every independent quality benchmark; Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) is ahead overall as of 2026-09-10, but check the category scores for your use.
- Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3 Flash?
- Gemini 3 Flash is cheaper: $1.13 against $1.50 per million tokens, blended at three input tokens per output token.
- Which is faster, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3 Flash?
- Gemini 3.6 Flash streams faster: 194 against 180 output tokens per second.
- Which has the larger context window?
- Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts more context: 1.0M against 1M tokens.