Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Nano Banana 2.1
Gemini 3 Flash Preview costs 2.5x less per output token than Nano Banana 2.1 ($3.00 vs $7.50 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; no benchmark has tested both models yet.
- Coding
- 43.7
- Overall
- 55.0
- Output $/M
- $3.00
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- No data
- Output $/M
- $7.50
Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Nano Banana 2.1: which to pick
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a coding score, 43.7 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nano Banana 2.1 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Compare them on price, context and the boards below.
No benchmark has tested both yet. Gemini 3 Flash Preview has results on SWE-bench Verified, LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) and SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI); Nano Banana 2.1 on Design Arena: images, Design Arena: graphic design and Design Arena: logos. Compare them on price and context instead.
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 3 Flash Preview has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a AA Intelligence Index result, 26.3.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a GPQA Diamond result, 87.9%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a AIME result, 95.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a MMLU Pro result, 88.6%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a Design Arena: websites result, 1196.
Directional only
Image generation
Design Arena: images
No call
Only Nano Banana 2.1 has a Design Arena: images result, 1291.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview takes 1.05M tokens against 66K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
Gemini 3 Flash Preview $0.0020, Nano Banana 2.1 $0.0053 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has the number, $0.37.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview 43.7 from 2 benchmarks, Nano Banana 2.1 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- None yet: no category has been tested on both models.
- Widest single gap
- None yet: no benchmark has tested both models.
- Output price
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview $3.00 against Nano Banana 2.1 $7.50 per million output tokens, 2.5x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview takes 1.05M tokens, Nano Banana 2.1 66K.
Benchmark by benchmark
Every board either model has a result on, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale. Only one model is measured on each, so no row names a leader.
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index14 boards measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 75.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 85.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 75.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 20.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 6.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 53.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 90.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 38.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 64.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| GSO-Bench | 9.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| WeirdML | 61.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ALE-Bench | 1367.2 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| SciCode | 12.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 29 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 26.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index15 boards measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | 1111 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1063 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1090 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | 1051 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | 1161 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | 1036 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 42.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 11.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 18.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 26.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 80.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| BALROG | 48.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| DeepResearch Bench | 49.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $3,635 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MCP Atlas | 62.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11 boards measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 87.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 87.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 89.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 36.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 89.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ARC-AGI | 84.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 33.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| SimpleBench | 61.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Chess puzzles | 39.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 26.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| VPCT | 72.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 95.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 93.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| AA Math Index | 97.0 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 97.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 95.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 51.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 17.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| ProofBench | 15.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12 boards measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 88.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 86.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 55.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 66.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 73.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 95.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 55.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 89.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 66.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| GeoBench | 88.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 63.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1196 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1165 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1183 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1189 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 51.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 69.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 52.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| IFBench | 78.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 78.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| DTBench | 89.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| LMCA | 43.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 41 boards here | |||
Image generationDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards measured
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Nano Banana 2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: images | Not measured | 1291 | Only Nano Banana 2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: graphic design | Not measured | 1333 | Only Nano Banana 2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: logos | Not measured | 1277 | Only Nano Banana 2.1 measured |
| LMArena Text to Image | Not measured | 1328 | Only Nano Banana 2.1 measured |
| LMArena Image Edit | Not measured | 1426 | Only Nano Banana 2.1 measured |
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 Flash Preview | Google Nano Banana 2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | ||
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | December 17, 2025 | October 6, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 66K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.50 | $1.50 |
| Output $/Mtok | $3.00 | $7.50 |
| Coding index | 43.7 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.37 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3 Flash Preview better than Nano Banana 2.1 for coding?
Only Gemini 3 Flash Preview has a coding score, 43.7 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nano Banana 2.1 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Compare them on price, context and the boards below.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Nano Banana 2.1?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview costs $0.50 per million input tokens and $3.00 per million output tokens; Nano Banana 2.1 costs $1.50 and $7.50. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3 Flash Preview only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Nano Banana 2.1?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview, with 1.05M tokens against 66K.
Has any benchmark tested both Gemini 3 Flash Preview and Nano Banana 2.1?
No benchmark has tested both yet. Gemini 3 Flash Preview has results on SWE-bench Verified, LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) and SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI); Nano Banana 2.1 on Design Arena: images, Design Arena: graphic design and Design Arena: logos. Compare them on price and context instead. Data as of October 22, 2026.