Gemini 3.8 Flash: capabilities, pricing, pros and cons

Strengths

Google calls it its best Flash model for reasoning and coding, while keeping the speed and price of the older 3.7 Flash.
Google reports 90.8% on Terminal-Bench 2.1, a test of command-line work, up from 81.6% for 3.7 Flash.
It writes fast: 140 tokens per second according to Artificial Analysis, against a median of 87.
A one-million-token context and input from text, images, video, audio and PDFs. In preview it can operate a computer and check answers against Google Search and Maps.
Unlike Gemini 4 Argon, you can try it on the free API tier.

Weaknesses

It scores 31 on the Artificial Analysis index, below the median of 42 in its comparison group.
Artificial Analysis measures a long wait before it starts answering, about 27.5 seconds. It is also wordy: 130 million output tokens on their test against a 64 million median.
On 1 January 2027 the API price doubles to $1.50 input and $7.50 output per million tokens.
At launch, Google made it available in the Gemini app only to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.

Best for

coding agents on a budget
business workflows and document analysis
large volumes of tasks that need some reasoning

Not ideal for

chat that needs an instant response
the hardest tasks, where Gemini 4 Argon is the better pick

How to use it in Europe

Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers get it in the Gemini app and in Google Sheets, and companies get it through Gemini Enterprise. Developers use it through the Gemini API and Google AI Studio, which work in Slovakia and Czechia, on both the free and paid tiers. On Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform it runs in the eu region, so data can stay in the EU. Under its terms, Google does not train on API data from users in the EEA, even on the free tier. The older 3.6 Flash and 3.7 Flash are still available in the API.

What is coming

Rumor, unconfirmed The name gemini-4-flash-preview reportedly appeared in a leaked screenshot of an API configuration. Google has not announced a cheaper Gemini 4 model. When: no date →

Price compared with similar models

Output price in USD per 1M tokens (log scale). Lighter bars are open-weight models.

Benchmark results

Benchmark	Score	Source
HLE-Verified (Google)	54.9%	blog.google ↗, September 2026
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Google, via DataCamp)	90.8%	datacamp.com ↗, September 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (High)	31 (#38 of 52)	artificialanalysis.ai ↗, October 2026
Artificial Analysis output speed	140.1 tokens/s (#35 of 193)	artificialanalysis.ai ↗, October 2026

Benchmarks cover only a narrow slice of ability and vendors often report them at their best settings. Treat them as a rough guide.

More models from this vendor

Gemini 4 Carbon: Google's most capable model, announced on 28 October 2026. So far only selected cybersecurity experts have access.
Gemini 4 Argon: Google's most capable publicly available model, out in October 2026. Built for demanding analytical work where accuracy matters and made-up answers are costly.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: A very fast, low-cost Google model for large volumes of simple tasks, such as pulling data out of documents.
Gemma 4 31B: Google's largest open model, which you can run on your own computer or server when data must not leave the company.
Gemma 4 26B A4B: Google's faster open model for your own server. Close to the larger Gemma 4 31B in quality, but quicker to respond.

Similar models from other vendors

Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): Claude's balanced model for everyday work and coding. It is faster than Opus 5.5 and costs half as much.
Command A+ (Cohere): An open business model from Canada's Cohere that officially supports Slovak and Czech and runs on your own server.
Muse Spark 1.3 (Meta): Meta's balanced model with a 1-million-token window and a fair price. The Muse Spark line also powers the Meta AI assistant.
Muse Spark Open (Meta): Meta's large open model that a company can run on its own servers, so data never leaves its infrastructure.
Llama 4 Maverick (Meta): The larger model in the newest Llama generation, from April 2025. Cheap through providers, but its license excludes people and companies in the EU.
Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI): Mistral's mid-size open-weight model and the default in the Vibe app. Good for everyday work and coding with data kept in the EU.

Sources

Prices and models change often. The data comes from official vendor pricing pages and documentation, and every page shows when it was last checked. Before a larger purchase, confirm the price with the vendor.

Gemini 3.8 Flash