Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Updated October 21, 2026. 98 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) for coding: it scores 63.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.3 for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash when output tokens cost 1.6x less, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 1M tokens.
- Shared results
- 98
- Gemini 3.6 Flash only
- 9
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) only
- 15
- 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
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) scores 63.5 against 48.3.
1 and 2 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 45.4 against 34.0.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 56.0 against 29.0.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 93.7% against 93.4%.
Same board, both measured
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 1275.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 1M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash $0.0026, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $0.0050 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Gemini 3.6 Flash $1.49, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $1.32.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.6 Flash 48.3 from 1 benchmark, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 63.5 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 12.6 points apart on average over 13 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- IOI (Vals AI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 35.1% against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 68.9%, 33.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.6 Flash $3.75 against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $6.00 per million output tokens, 1.6x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 3.6 Flash takes 1.05M tokens, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 1M.
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 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 5 | 10 | 1 tie | |
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 4 | 9 | ||
| Reasoning | 2 | 9 | 1 tie | |
| Math | 2 | 4 | ||
| Knowledge | 5 | 6 | ||
| Web design | 3 | 4 | ||
| General | 7 | 24 | ||
| All shared boards | 28 | 68 | 2 ties |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index510
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 60.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1538 | 1674 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| AA Coding Index | 69.2 | 76.2 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 88.1% | 87.8% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 79.6% | 85.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 34.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 64.0% | 64.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 30.9% | 24.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | 0.0% | Tie |
| IOI (Vals AI) | 35.1% | 68.9% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 73.8% | 67.4% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 42.5% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 12.8% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 45.4% | 28.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| SciCode | 53.4% | 53.2% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| FrontierCode | 34.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierSWE | Not measured | 17.8% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| WeirdML | 56.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ALE-Bench | 715.5 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1491 | 1502 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1492 | 1498 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1528 | 1692 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1547 | 1649 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1545 | 1637 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 34.0 | 45.4 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 154.5 | 157.4 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index49
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 29.0 | 56.0 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | 1197 | 1301 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1181 | 1305 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1199 | 1223 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | 1208 | 1207 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | Not measured | 1234 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 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 | 1257 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | 1017 | 868 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 69.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 32.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 42.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 56.3% | 50.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 18.0% | 32.1% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 25.0% | 47.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 65.4% | 60.1% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | 58.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | 4.3% | 12.9% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| APEX-Agents | 46.9% | 63.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Search | Not measured | 1261 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index29
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 93.4% | 93.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 88.2% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 23.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 88.4% | 88.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 92.8% | 92.8% | Tie |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 40.8% | 43.1% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 94.1% | 92.7% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| ARC-AGI | 91.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 60.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | 42.0% | 46.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Mystery game puzzles | 30.0% | 38.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1486 | 1496 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1490 | 1507 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1484 | 1503 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1314 | 1323 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1314 | 1336 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index24
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 94.2% | 100.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 58.9% | 74.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 22.0% | 46.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| ProofBench | 36.0% | 58.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: math | 1508 | 1501 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1492 | 1491 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index56
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 89.3% | 88.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 86.7% | 83.6% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 63.3% | 65.8% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 74.9% | 75.5% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 67.6% | 64.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 53.1% | 40.7% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| SimpleQA Verified | 66.2% | 47.3% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: science | 1489 | 1512 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1469 | 1503 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1479 | 1492 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1464 | 1480 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index34
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1301 | 1275 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1297 | 1340 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1263 | 1313 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1289 | 1281 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1272 | 1337 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1290 | 1293 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1281 | 1201 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 78.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index724
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 78.4% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | 56.6% | 67.1% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 48.7% | 51.2% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 79.7% | 85.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 65.1% | 65.4% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 80.0% | 80.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| DTBench | 95.5% | 92.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMCA | 44.9% | 46.2% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Furniture assembly | 23.3% | 20.0% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text | 1480 | 1483 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1467 | 1481 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1466 | 1477 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision | 1299 | 1313 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: English | 1482 | 1491 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1470 | 1473 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1531 | 1539 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: German | 1480 | 1478 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1475 | 1473 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1429 | 1460 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: French | 1503 | 1498 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1476 | 1489 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1488 | 1482 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1473 | 1471 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1481 | 1489 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1475 | 1488 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1470 | 1477 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1456 | 1464 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1295 | 1311 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1357 | 1358 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1312 | 1322 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1289 | 1304 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1278 | 1312 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| 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 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | 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 3.6 Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 3.6 Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 3.6 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 3.6 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | July 21, 2026 | September 3, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.75 | $2.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $3.75 | $6.00 |
| Coding index | 48.3 | 63.5 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | $1.49 | $1.32 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than Qwen3.8 Max (0902) for coding?
Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) for coding: it scores 63.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.3 for Gemini 3.6 Flash. Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash when output tokens cost 1.6x less, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 1M tokens.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens; Qwen3.8 Max (0902) costs $2.00 and $6.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $1.49 and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $1.32.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
Gemini 3.6 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902) comparison based on?
98 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 Qwen3.8 Max (0902)'s on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.