Compare / Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Gemini 4 Argon

Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Gemini 4 Argon

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 17 results on 3 sources that measured both models.

GoogleGemini 3.5 Flash Released 19 May 2026 · $1.50 in · $9.00 out
GoogleGemini 4 Argon Released 13 Oct 2026 · $2.00 in · $10.00 out
Gemini 3.5 Flash wins 3Gemini 4 Argon wins 14

Of the 17 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.

Results as of 14 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-14-7d7cf32c3f6d).

Gemini 3.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon? The short answer

Pick Gemini 4 Argon: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 52.6 against 33.6) and costs less.

  • Gemini 4 Argon is cheaper to run: $0.004 against $0.029 per game of bullet chess on BulletBench (8.1 times less).
  • Gemini 4 Argon scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 52.6 against 33.6.
  • Gemini 4 Argon is newer: released 13 Oct 2026, against 19 May 2026 for Gemini 3.5 Flash.
  • On our own benchmarks, on the results both models have: Gemini 3.5 Flash does better for speed under pressure.
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Gemini 4 Argon does better for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.

Head to head

33.6
Intelligence Index
52.6
$3.38
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$4.00
1,048,576
Context window, tokens
1,048,576

Every fact side by side

Gemini 3.5 FlashGemini 4 Argon
Price per million tokens$1.50 in · $9.00 out$2.00 in · $10.00 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$3.38$4.00
Cheapest host, blended$3.38 (Google)–
Cost per game of bullet chess (BulletBench)$0.029$0.004
Cached input, per million$0.15 cached input–
Intelligence Index33.652.6
Spring Prompt overall–75
Output speed, tokens a second––
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Released19 May 202613 Oct 2026 (newer)
WeightsClosedClosed
Developer based inthe USthe US

Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.

Which is better for what

Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live not measured 7 of 22
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is not measured 13 of 21
User surveysPlanning a user survey and reading its results without being misled not measured 5 of 10
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending not measured 8 of 21
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 45 of 166 3 of 166
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects 42 of 51 not measured
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 34 of 200 3 of 200
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 13 of 189 1 of 189
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 17 of 153 1 of 153
Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) 4 of 25 20 of 25

From our research

Every shared result

Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.

MeasureGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 4 Argon
BulletBench measured by Spring Prompt · 3 results
Cost per game · Bullet 60sUS dollars, lower is better 24 · 10 of 30 measured $0.0289minimal reasoning $0.0036
Ladder Elo · Bullet 60sladder Elo, higher is better 4 · 26 of 30 measured 810minimal reasoning 147
Games lost on time · Bullet 60s% of games, lower is better 13 · 28 of 30 measured 25.0%minimal reasoning 87.5%
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 25 · 1 of 387 measured 1,477high reasoning 1,525high reasoning
Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 17 · 1 of 163 measured 1,476high reasoning 1,511high reasoning
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 35 · 1 of 380 measured 1,468high reasoning 1,522high reasoning
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 46 · 5 of 244 measured 33.6medium reasoning 52.6high reasoning
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 29 · 3 of 243 measured 42.7%high reasoning 57.1%high reasoning
Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 43 · 4 of 113 measured 6.6%high reasoning 57.1%high reasoning
Show all 17 results (8 more)
MeasureGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 4 Argon
BulletBench measured by Spring Prompt · 2 results
Invalid moves · Bullet 60s% of moves, lower is better 27 · 1 of 30 measured 0.5%minimal reasoning 0.0%
Median move time · Bullet 60smilliseconds, lower is better 16 · 28 of 30 measured 1.2 sminimal reasoning 2.9 s
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 15 · 1 of 385 measured 1,469medium reasoning 1,519high reasoning
Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 49 · 7 of 338 measured 1,492high reasoning 1,539high reasoning
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 35 · 1 of 387 measured 1,466medium reasoning 1,528high reasoning
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 15 · 1 of 386 measured 1,474high reasoning 1,522high reasoning
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 2 results
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 83 · 44 of 234 measured 74.3%medium reasoning 79.7%high reasoning
SciCode% of problems, higher is better 32 · 3 of 114 measured 53.9%high reasoning 61.8%high reasoning

Quick answers

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash better than Gemini 4 Argon?

Pick Gemini 4 Argon: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 52.6 against 33.6) and costs less.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon?

Gemini 4 Argon is cheaper to run: $0.004 against $0.029 per game of bullet chess on BulletBench (8.1 times less).

Which is better for agents and tool use, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon?

Gemini 4 Argon ranks 3 of 166 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 45 for Gemini 3.5 Flash.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon?

Gemini 4 Argon ranks 3 of 200 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 34 for Gemini 3.5 Flash.

Which is better for writing, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon?

Gemini 4 Argon ranks 1 of 189 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 13 for Gemini 3.5 Flash.

Which is better for sticking to the facts, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon?

Gemini 4 Argon ranks 1 of 153 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 17 for Gemini 3.5 Flash.

Which is better for speed under pressure, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Gemini 4 Argon?

Gemini 3.5 Flash ranks 4 of 25 models on sale for good decisions against a real clock (fast chess), against 20 for Gemini 4 Argon.

Run Gemini 3.5 Flash and Gemini 4 Argon on your own prompt

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