Gemini 3 Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
There is no quality verdict yet: the AIGROW small-business benchmark has not run Gemini 3 Flash. On price, Gemini 3 Flash costs less: $0.50 in and $3 out per million tokens, against $0.75 in and $3.75 out for Gemini 3.8 Flash.
AIGROW credit covers Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Fable 5.2, Claude Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra, Claude Sonnet 5.5, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6.1 Terra, Grok 4.7 and Gemini 4 Argon. Gemini 4 Argon below list price
$25 a month brings $110 of API credit and cancels any time; $25 once buys $100. Gemini 3 Flash is still a preview, so its price can change. US dollars, standard rate, shortest context band. Price only: the benchmark has not run both.
- Gemini 3 Flash
- $2.70
- Gemini 3.8 Flash
- $3.75
- Gemini 3 Flash, per M tokens
- $0.50 / $3
- Gemini 3.8 Flash, per M tokens
- $0.75 / $3.75
3,000 tokens in and 400 out each, at list price.
Google's earlier Flash against the one that replaces it, with 3 Flash cheaper on input and on output. 1,000 support replies cost $3.75 on Gemini 3.8 Flash and $2.70 on Gemini 3 Flash, so Gemini 3.8 Flash costs 39% more.
What each one costs
The API price per million tokens and the cheapest app plan with each model, from the makers’ own pages. Each name opens that model’s full price page.
- Gemini 3 Flash
- On the Google API, Gemini 3 Flash costs $0.50 per million input tokens and $3 per million output tokens.
- Gemini 3.8 Flash
- On the Google API, Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens.
Side by side
Each maker’s published rate for its standard tier. Cached input is what a repeated prompt prefix costs once the provider has stored it.
| Fact | Gemini 3 Flash | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | ||
| Tier | Workhorses | Workhorses |
| Input, per M tokens | $0.50 | $0.75 |
| Output, per M tokens | $3.00 | $3.75 |
| Cached input | $0.05 | $0.075 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Released | Dec 2025 | 2 Sep 2026 |
| Weights | Closed weights | Closed weights |
What a job costs on each
1,000 runs of each job at the two list prices. The gap moves from job to job because the models price input, output and cached context differently.
| Job | Gemini 3 Flash | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support reply3,000 in, 400 out. | $2.70 | $3.75 | Gemini 3 Flash, 28% less |
| Document summary25,000 in, 1,000 out. | $15.50 | $22.50 | Gemini 3 Flash, 31% less |
| Agent task80,000 in (70,000 cached), 3,000 out. | $17.50 | $24.00 | Gemini 3 Flash, 27% less |
The token counts are ours, chosen to look like real work; the prices are the makers’. A model with no published cache price bills the agent task’s repeated context at its full input rate.
The small print
What each base rate leaves out, from the makers’ own pages: surcharges, discounts, promotions and cache pricing.
- Gemini 3 Flash
- In preview; Google now calls it its legacy Flash model. Audio input $1.00 (cached $0.10). Batch 50% off. Cache storage $1.00 per MTok per hour. No long-context surcharge. Google’s pricing page
- Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Launch price through 2026-12-31; from 2027-01-01 it becomes $1.50 / $7.50, cached $0.15. Batch and Flex 50% off; Priority $1.35 / $6.75. Cache storage $0.50 per MTok per hour (rising to $1.00). Google’s pricing page
Other comparisons
Every head to head on the list that involves Gemini 3 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash.
Compare Gemini 3 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash with 52 other models
The price list sets every model’s input and output price side by side, with what a support reply, a document summary and an agent task cost on each.
Prices checked 12 November 2026