Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Gemma 4 26B A4B
Updated October 21, 2026. 49 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
vs boards won of 49 shared
Decision reading
Pick Gemini 3.8 Flash for coding: it scores 70.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 22.8 for Gemma 4 26B A4B.
Pick Gemma 4 26B A4B when output tokens cost 16.2x less.
Model AGemini 3.8 FlashGoogle70.5/1002 independent benchmarks$2.74 per solved taskModel BGemma 4 26B A4BGoogle22.8/1001 independent benchmarkNo cost per solved task
- Shared results
- 49
- Gemini 3.8 Flash only
- 77
- Gemma 4 26B A4B only
- 5
- 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.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, four public coding benchmarks
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 70.5 against 22.8.
2 and 1 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Gemini 3.8 Flash leads, 40.9 against 16.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Gemini 3.8 Flash leads, 40.2 against 2.9.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.8 Flash has a GPQA Diamond result, 94.4%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.8 Flash has a MMLU Pro result, 90.2%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3.8 Flash has a Design Arena: websites result, 1301.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.8 Flash has a Vals Index result, 56.0%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Gemini 3.8 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemma 4 26B A4B
Gemini 3.8 Flash $0.0029, Gemma 4 26B A4B $0.0002 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.8 Flash has the number, $2.74.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.8 Flash 70.5 from 2 benchmarks, Gemma 4 26B A4B 22.8 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 37.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- WeirdML: Gemini 3.8 Flash 84.8% against Gemma 4 26B A4B 35.2%, 49.6 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.8 Flash $4.125 against Gemma 4 26B A4B $0.255 per million output tokens, 16.2x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 3.8 Flash takes 1.05M tokens, Gemma 4 26B A4B 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.
| Category | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Bars | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 9 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 2 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 8 | 0 | ||
| Math | 3 | 0 | ||
| Knowledge | 4 | 0 | ||
| General | 22 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 49 | 0 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index90
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 82.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1585 | 1360 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| AA Coding Index | 76.3 | 39.3 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 89.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 80.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 19.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 78.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 36.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 1.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | 56.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 81.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | 40.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | 18.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | 58.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 43.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| SciCode | 56.6% | 40.0% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 25.0% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| FrontierCode | 41.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| FrontierSWE | 19.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| WeirdML | 84.8% | 35.2% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| ALE-Bench | 1269.7 | 927.2 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1508 | 1446 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1507 | 1454 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1577 | 1351 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1616 | 1362 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1593 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 40.9 | 16.7 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 157.4 | 141.9 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 40.2 | 2.9 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | 1238 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1244 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1236 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | 1078 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | 1273 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | 1178 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | 1052 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LiveBench research | 79.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LiveBench browser | 64.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | 30.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | 11.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 61.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 32.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 38.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 12.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 72.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | 62.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | 8.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Vals Science Index | 35.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Time Horizon Index (Vals AI) | 18.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| CUA-bench (Vals AI) | 4.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 43.6% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| APEX-Agents | 64.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Remote Labor Index | 5.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $5,094 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index80
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 94.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | 89.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | 36.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 89.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 95.3% | 79.2% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 47.8% | 19.3% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 95.4% | 73.2% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| ARC-AGI | 98.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 89.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | 58.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 47.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1509 | 1438 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1526 | 1447 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1504 | 1448 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1345 | 1264 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1351 | 1293 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 98.9% | 82.2% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 68.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 22.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| ProofBench | 48.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1532 | 1470 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1519 | 1475 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 90.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 87.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 74.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 65.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 48.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 69.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1523 | 1446 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1508 | 1428 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1497 | 1457 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1479 | 1429 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1301 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1318 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1305 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1269 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1295 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1304 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1295 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1264 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LiveBench design | 72.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index220
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 56.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LiveBench data analysis | 54.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | 65.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 35.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 84.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 72.4% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 84.0% | 65.7% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| DTBench | 95.7% | 74.9% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMCA | 52.9% | 29.7% | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 76.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| Furniture assembly | 31.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text | 1499 | 1434 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1492 | 1420 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1488 | 1400 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Vision | 1315 | 1260 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: English | 1498 | 1444 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1491 | 1421 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1553 | 1495 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: German | 1501 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1507 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1464 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1496 | 1460 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1487 | 1415 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1514 | 1434 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1497 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1503 | 1441 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1507 | 1427 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1494 | 1405 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1480 | 1403 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1318 | 1256 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1416 | 1312 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1333 | 1268 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1321 | 1272 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | Not measured | 1297 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | Not measured | 1191 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1299 | 1256 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B | 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 3.8 Flash$0.0029Fits in one request
Gemma 4 26B A4B$0.0002Fits in one request
Gemma 4 26B A4B costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 3.8 Flash$0.054Fits in one request
Gemma 4 26B A4B$0.0046Fits in one request
Gemma 4 26B A4B costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 3.8 Flash$0.206Fits in one request
Gemma 4 26B A4B$0.018Fits in one request
Gemma 4 26B A4B 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 3.8 Flash | Google Gemma 4 26B A4B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | ||
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | September 2, 2026 | April 3, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.825 | $0.0765 |
| Output $/Mtok | $4.125 | $0.255 |
| Coding index | 70.5 | 22.8 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $2.74 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.8 Flash better than Gemma 4 26B A4B for coding?
Pick Gemini 3.8 Flash for coding: it scores 70.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 22.8 for Gemma 4 26B A4B. Pick Gemma 4 26B A4B when output tokens cost 16.2x less.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Gemma 4 26B A4B?
Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.825 per million input tokens and $4.125 per million output tokens; Gemma 4 26B A4B costs $0.0765 and $0.255. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.8 Flash only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Gemma 4 26B A4B?
Gemini 3.8 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Gemma 4 26B A4B comparison based on?
49 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 3.8 Flash's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Gemma 4 26B A4B's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.