Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Updated October 21, 2026. 48 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick Gemini 3 Flash Preview for coding: it scores 75.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.3 for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash when what matters is LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) or SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 48
- Gemini 3.6 Flash only
- 59
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview only
- 21
- Like-for-like categories
- 8 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.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, four public coding benchmarks
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview scores 75.8 against 48.3.
One benchmark behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 34.0 against 26.3.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a AA Agentic Index result, 29.0.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 93.4% against 87.9%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a AIME result, 95.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 89.3% against 88.6%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 1301 against 1196.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3.6 Flash $0.0026, Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.0020 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3.6 Flash $1.49, Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.37.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.6 Flash 48.3 from 1 benchmark, Gemini 3 Flash Preview 75.8 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 15.3 points apart on average over 9 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 64.0% against Gemini 3 Flash Preview 20.2%, 43.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.6 Flash $3.75 against Gemini 3 Flash Preview $3.00 per million output tokens, 1.3x 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 3.6 Flash | Bars | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 5 | 2 | 1 tie | |
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 9 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 9 | 0 | ||
| Math | 3 | 1 | ||
| Knowledge | 2 | 5 | ||
| Web design | 4 | 0 | ||
| General | 5 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 38 | 9 | 1 tie |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index52
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | Not measured | 75.8% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1538 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| AA Coding Index | 69.2 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 88.1% | 85.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 79.6% | 75.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 64.0% | 20.2% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 30.9% | 6.4% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | 0.0% | Tie |
| IOI (Vals AI) | 35.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 73.8% | 53.9% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 45.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 90.8% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| SciCode | 53.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 38.6% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench | Not measured | 64.3% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| FrontierCode | 34.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| GSO-Bench | Not measured | 9.8% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| WeirdML | 56.1% | 61.6% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| ALE-Bench | 715.5 | 1367.2 | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1491 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1492 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1528 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1547 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1545 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 34.0 | 26.3 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 154.5 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index90
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 29.0 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | 1197 | 1111 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1181 | 1063 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1199 | 1090 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | 1208 | 1056 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | Not measured | 1161 | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building games | 1181 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | 1148 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | 1146 | 1036 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | 1017 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 56.3% | 42.5% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 18.0% | 11.8% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 25.0% | 18.3% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 65.4% | 26.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | 58.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | 4.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 80.4% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| APEX-Agents | 46.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| BALROG | Not measured | 48.1% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| DeepResearch Bench | Not measured | 49.8% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | Not measured | $3,635 | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index90
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 93.4% | 87.9% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 88.4% | 87.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 92.8% | 89.8% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 40.8% | 36.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 94.1% | 89.4% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| ARC-AGI | 91.2% | 84.7% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 60.4% | 33.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| SimpleBench | Not measured | 61.1% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Chess puzzles | 42.0% | 39.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Mystery game puzzles | 30.0% | 26.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| VPCT | Not measured | 72.6% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1486 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1490 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1484 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1314 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1314 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index31
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | Not measured | 95.6% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | Not measured | 93.3% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 97.0 | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 97.0% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 94.2% | 95.6% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 58.9% | 51.2% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 22.0% | 17.1% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| ProofBench | 36.0% | 15.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: math | 1508 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1492 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index25
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 89.3% | 88.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 86.7% | 86.9% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 55.8% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 63.3% | 66.4% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 74.9% | 73.9% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 67.6% | 68.7% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | Not measured | 95.8% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 53.1% | 55.9% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 89.0% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 66.2% | 66.8% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| GeoBench | Not measured | 88.0% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1489 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1469 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1479 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1464 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1301 | 1196 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1297 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1263 | 1166 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1289 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1272 | 1184 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1290 | 1189 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1281 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index51
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | 56.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 48.7% | 51.8% | Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 79.7% | 69.9% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 65.1% | 52.2% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| IFBench | Not measured | 78.0% | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 80.0% | 78.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| DTBench | 95.5% | 89.1% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMCA | 44.9% | 43.1% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Furniture assembly | 23.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text | 1480 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1467 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1466 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision | 1299 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1482 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1470 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1531 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1480 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1475 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1429 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1503 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1476 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1488 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1473 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1481 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1475 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1470 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1456 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1295 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1357 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1312 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1289 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1278 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Document | 1456 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | 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 3 Flash Preview costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 3 Flash Preview costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 3 Flash Preview 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 3.6 Flash | Google Gemini 3 Flash Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | ||
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | July 21, 2026 | December 17, 2025 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.75 | $0.50 |
| Output $/Mtok | $3.75 | $3.00 |
| Coding index | 48.3 | 75.8 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $1.49 | $0.37 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than Gemini 3 Flash Preview for coding?
Pick Gemini 3 Flash Preview for coding: it scores 75.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.3 for Gemini 3.6 Flash. Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash when what matters is LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) or SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3 Flash Preview?
Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens; Gemini 3 Flash Preview costs $0.50 and $3.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $1.49 and Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.37.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemini 3 Flash Preview?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview comparison based on?
48 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 3.6 Flash's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Gemini 3 Flash Preview's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.