Gemini 3 Flash vs GPT-5.5 Instant
Verdict
- Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) leads on quality: 61.6 vs 60.5.
- Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) is stronger in instruction following, long context, multimodal.
- GPT-5.5 Instant is stronger in agents & tools, composite, knowledge, coding, human preference, maths, reasoning.
- Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) is 10× cheaper ($1.13 vs $11.25 per 1M blended).
- Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) streams 1.4× faster (180 vs 129 tokens per second).
| Metric | Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) | GPT-5.5 Instant |
|---|---|---|
| BenchLeader Index | 61.6 | 60.5 |
| Agents & tools score | 67.4 | 70.7 |
| Composite score | 62.3 | 62.9 |
| Instruction following score | 75.4 | 69.8 |
| Knowledge score | 69.0 | 69.4 |
| Long context score | 65.5 | 61.4 |
| Multimodal score | 64.4 | 59.7 |
| Coding score | – | 61.1 |
| Human preference score | – | 67.5 |
| Maths score | – | 42.5 |
| Reasoning score | – | 62.6 |
| Blended price $/M | $1.13 | $11.25 |
| Output speed | 180 tok/s | 129 tok/s |
| Time to first answer | 6.1 s | 16.8 s |
| Context window | 1M | 400k |
| GPQA Diamond | – | 82.5% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 | – | 26.3% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | – | 2.4% |
| OTIS Mock AIME | – | 68.1% |
| SciCode | – | 48.6% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | – | 142.5 |
| LMArena Text | – | 1474 |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | – | 1491 |
| LMArena Coding | – | 1514 |
| LMArena Vision | – | 1251 |
| AA Intelligence Index | 26.3 | 26.8 |
| IFBench | 78.0% | 71.5% |
| AA-LCR | 78.0% | 70.0% |
| MMMU-Pro | 79.9% | – |
| AA-Omniscience | 10.1 | 11.2 |
| Terminal-Bench Hard | 38.6% | 42.4% |
| GPQA Diamond (AA) | 89.8% | 84.7% |
| Humanity's Last Exam (AA) | 36.6% | 21.6% |
| SciCode (AA) | – | 52.5% |
| τ²-Bench Telecom (AA) | 80.4% | 49.4% |
Data as of 2026-09-10. Best configuration of each model; every score links to its source on the model pages.
Gemini 3 Flash vs GPT-5.5 Instant: questions
- Is Gemini 3 Flash better than GPT-5.5 Instant?
- Gemini 3 Flash (thinking) leads on quality: 61.6 vs 60.5. 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.
- Is Gemini 3 Flash better than GPT-5.5 Instant for agentic tasks?
- GPT-5.5 Instant scores higher in agentic tasks (71 vs 67 on the category index, where 50 is average).
- Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash or GPT-5.5 Instant?
- Gemini 3 Flash is cheaper: $1.13 against $11.25 per million tokens, blended at three input tokens per output token.
- Which is faster, Gemini 3 Flash or GPT-5.5 Instant?
- Gemini 3 Flash streams faster: 180 against 129 output tokens per second.
- Which has the larger context window?
- Gemini 3 Flash accepts more context: 1M against 400k tokens.