Enter opens the highlighted result. Esc closes.

Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Step 3.5 Flash

Updated October 21, 2026. 35 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.

Replace Gemini 2.5 Flash Replace Step 3.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 FlashGoogle
Coding
No data
Overall
15.5
Output $/M
$2.50
26
Step 3.5 FlashStepFun
Coding
No data
Overall
17.0
Output $/M
$0.30
9
vs boards won of 35 shared

Decision reading

Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.

Gemini 2.5 Flash has the edge where the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens, and where what matters is Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or LMArena Text: coding, where it leads.

Model AGemini 2.5 FlashGoogleNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmark$0.466 per solved taskModel BStep 3.5 FlashStepFunNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved task
Shared results
35
Gemini 2.5 Flash only
34
Step 3.5 Flash only
0
Like-for-like categories
7 of 9

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.

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.

At a glance

Coding index
Gemini 2.5 Flash not benchmarked, Step 3.5 Flash not benchmarked.
Widest category
Agentic work, 62.9 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
Widest single gap
τ²-Bench Telecom: Gemini 2.5 Flash 31.6% against Step 3.5 Flash 94.4%, 62.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Gemini 2.5 Flash $2.50 against Step 3.5 Flash $0.30 per million output tokens, 8.3x apart.
Context window
Gemini 2.5 Flash takes 1.05M tokens, Step 3.5 Flash 262K.

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.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryGemini 2.5 FlashBarsStep 3.5 FlashTies
Coding03
Intelligence01
Agentic work01
Reasoning23
Math20
Knowledge40
General181
All shared boards269
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index03
Coding benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
SWE-bench Verified28.7%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run)69.5%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)13.6%32.6%Step 3.5 Flash
Terminal-Bench17.1%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: coding14231436Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Text: software and IT14251434Step 3.5 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Intelligence benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
AA Intelligence Index15.517.0Step 3.5 Flash
Epoch Capabilities Index142.9Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Agentic work benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
τ²-Bench Telecom31.6%94.4%Step 3.5 Flash
BALROG33.5%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Vending-Bench 2$549Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index23
Reasoning benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)79.0%83.1%Step 3.5 Flash
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)12.1%24.5%Step 3.5 Flash
ARC-AGI33.3%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
ARC-AGI-22.5%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
SimpleBench41.2%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts14221411Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: expert14261421Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14201421Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Vision: diagrams1245Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: homework1244Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Math benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
AA Math Index73.3Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run)73.3%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: math14111408Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: mathematical work14221421Gemini 2.5 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
Knowledge benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
MedCode (Vals AI)40.4%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run)83.2%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: science14331415Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14281408Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: legal and government14301408Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: business and finance14041394Gemini 2.5 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
Design Arena: websites1074Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: UI components1005Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: game dev1005Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: data viz1060Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: 3D1021Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: all code categories1059Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: SVG1020Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index181
General benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
SAGE (Vals AI)44.8%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)83.0%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
IFBench50.3%66.5%Step 3.5 Flash
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)65.3%63.0%Gemini 2.5 Flash
DTBench76.5%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMCA27.5%Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text14171403Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: instruction following14051385Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: creative writing14001357Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Vision1235Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: English14181417Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: non-English14091385Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: Chinese14491446Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: German14171405Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: Japanese13961353Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: Korean13851351Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: French14321421Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: Spanish14221419Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: Russian14151385Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: Polish14131389Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: multi-turn14081404Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: longer queries14191402Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: writing and language14051372Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Text: entertainment and media13931360Gemini 2.5 Flash
LMArena Vision: English1239Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: Chinese1284Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: reading text1237Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: humor1225Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: captioning1277Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: recognizing things1252Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing1241Not measuredOnly Gemini 2.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
BenchmarkGemini 2.5 FlashStep 3.5 FlashLeader
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
Step 3.5 Flash$0.0003Fits in one request

Step 3.5 Flash costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Gemini 2.5 Flash$0.022Fits in one request
Step 3.5 Flash$0.0059Fits in one request

Step 3.5 Flash costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Gemini 2.5 Flash$0.085Fits in one request
Step 3.5 Flash$0.023Fits in one request

Step 3.5 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.

Specifications of Gemini 2.5 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash
SpecificationGoogle Gemini 2.5 FlashStepFun Step 3.5 Flash
MakerGoogleStepFun
WeightsNo public weights listedOpen weights
ReleasedJune 17, 2025January 29, 2026
Context window1.05M262K
Input $/Mtok$0.30$0.10
Output $/Mtok$2.50$0.30
Coding indexNot benchmarkedNot benchmarked
Independent measurements behind it00
Cost per solved task$0.466Not computable
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Gemini 2.5 Flash better than Step 3.5 Flash for coding?

Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Gemini 2.5 Flash has the edge where the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens, and where what matters is Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or LMArena Text: coding, where it leads.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash or Step 3.5 Flash?

Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Step 3.5 Flash costs $0.10 and $0.30. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 2.5 Flash only.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 2.5 Flash or Step 3.5 Flash?

Gemini 2.5 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks is the Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Step 3.5 Flash comparison based on?

35 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 2.5 Flash's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Step 3.5 Flash's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

Compare next