Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Gemini 4 Argon
Gemini 4 Argon leads Gemini 2.5 Flash on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 52.6 to 15.5, and Gemini 2.5 Flash costs 4.0x less per output token ($2.50 vs $10.00 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 41 benchmarks have a result for both.
vs boards won of 41 shared
Gemini 2.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon: which to pick
Only Gemini 4 Argon has a coding score, 81.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; Gemini 2.5 Flash has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash for output tokens 4.0x cheaper ($2.50 vs $10.00 per million).
Model AGemini 2.5 FlashGoogleNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmark$0.466 per solved taskModel BGemini 4 ArgonGoogle81.0/1005 independent benchmarksNo cost per solved task
- Shared results
- 41
- Gemini 2.5 Flash only
- 32
- Gemini 4 Argon only
- 53
- Like-for-like categories
- 8 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Gemini 4 Argon has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 4 Argon
Gemini 4 Argon leads, 52.6 against 15.5.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Gemini 4 Argon
Gemini 4 Argon leads, 1315 against 1074.
Same board, both measured
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Gemini 4 Argon has a Vals Index result, 69.2%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash $0.0015, Gemini 4 Argon $0.0070 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 2.5 Flash has the number, $0.466.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 2.5 Flash not benchmarked, Gemini 4 Argon 81.0 from 5 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 82.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- ARC-AGI-2: Gemini 2.5 Flash 2.5% against Gemini 4 Argon 91.3%, 88.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 2.5 Flash $2.50 against Gemini 4 Argon $10.00 per million output tokens, 4.0x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1.05M tokens.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Bars | Gemini 4 Argon | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 6 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 5 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 6 | ||
| General | 0 | 17 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 41 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 28.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 89.7% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1678 | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 57.6% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 91.9% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.2% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.5% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 100.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 57.7% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 56.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 21.2% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 77.9% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 69.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 61.8% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 17.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| FrontierCode | Not measured | 47.5% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| FrontierSWE | Not measured | 55.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| MirrorCode | Not measured | 58.9% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 2100.1 | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1423 | 1546 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1425 | 1556 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1692 | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1643 | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 12.3% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 15.5 | 52.6 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 142.9 | 166.4 | Gemini 4 Argon |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | Not measured | 1157 | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 83.1% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 92.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 69.9% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 44.3% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.4% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 44.6% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 54.8% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 27.1% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 75.2% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 76.3% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 44.3% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Vals Science Index | Not measured | 55.4% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Time Horizon Index (Vals AI) | Not measured | 52.5% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| CUA-bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.8% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Robo-bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.8% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 31.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 82.4% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| BALROG | 33.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $549 | $13,718 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 56.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| BrowseComp-Plus | 39.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index06
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 95.1% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 45.5% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 79.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 12.1% | 57.1% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 96.4% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| ARC-AGI | 33.3% | 98.5% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 2.5% | 91.3% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| SimpleBench | 41.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 59.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 64.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| EBR-bench | Not measured | 64.8% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1422 | 1546 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1426 | 1550 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1420 | 1548 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1245 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1244 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 56.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 73.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 73.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 100.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 86.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 78.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 99.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1411 | 1536 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1422 | 1557 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 88.3% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 40.4% | 58.8% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 76.0% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1433 | 1548 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1428 | 1555 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1430 | 1548 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1404 | 1525 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 47.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index06
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1074 | 1315 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1002 | 1333 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1004 | 1377 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1060 | 1332 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1020 | 1388 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1059 | 1329 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1020 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 73.7% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | Not measured | 69.2% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 85.2% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 69.8% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 44.8% | 53.6% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 83.0% | 87.4% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| IFBench | 50.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 65.3% | 79.7% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| DTBench | 76.5% | 97.6% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMCA | 27.5% | 63.7% | Gemini 4 Argon |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 72.5% | Only Gemini 4 Argon measured |
| LMArena Text | 1417 | 1532 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1405 | 1534 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1400 | 1527 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Vision | 1235 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1418 | 1538 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1409 | 1522 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1449 | 1611 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: German | 1417 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1396 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1385 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1432 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1422 | 1503 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1415 | 1534 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1413 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1408 | 1556 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1419 | 1547 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1405 | 1529 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1393 | 1527 | Gemini 4 Argon |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1239 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1284 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1237 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1225 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | 1277 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | 1252 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1241 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash$0.0015Fits in one request
Gemini 4 Argon$0.0070Fits in one request
Gemini 2.5 Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash$0.022Fits in one request
Gemini 4 Argon$0.130Fits in one request
Gemini 2.5 Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash$0.085Fits in one request
Gemini 4 Argon$0.500Fits in one request
Gemini 2.5 Flash costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Google Gemini 2.5 Flash | Google Gemini 4 Argon |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | ||
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | June 17, 2025 | October 13, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $2.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $10.00 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 81.0 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 5 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.466 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 2.5 Flash better than Gemini 4 Argon for coding?
Only Gemini 4 Argon has a coding score, 81.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; Gemini 2.5 Flash has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash for output tokens 4.0x cheaper ($2.50 vs $10.00 per million).
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon?
Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Gemini 4 Argon costs $2.00 and $10.00. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 2.5 Flash only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 2.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Gemini 4 Argon comparison based on?
41 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemini 2.5 Flash's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Gemini 4 Argon's on 5. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.