Head-to-head comparison across 3benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
Gemini 3.5 Flash
88
GPT-4.1
58
Verified leaderboard positions: Gemini 3.5 Flash #7 · GPT-4.1 unranked
Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4.1 only becomes the better choice if instruction following is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.
Coding
+0.1 difference
Knowledge
+8.3 difference
Inst. Following
+11.1 difference
Gemini 3.5 Flash
GPT-4.1
$1.5 / $9
$2 / $8
284.2 t/s
108 t/s
18.55s
1.02s
1M
1M
Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4.1 only becomes the better choice if instruction following is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.
Gemini 3.5 Flash is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 88 to 58. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Gemini 3.5 Flash is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.50 input / $9.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens for GPT-4.1. Gemini 3.5 Flash is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4.1 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use.
Gemini 3.5 Flash is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 88 to 58. The biggest single separator in this matchup is GPQA, where the scores are 92.2% and 66.3%.
GPT-4.1 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 66.3 versus 58. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
GPT-4.1 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 54.6 versus 54.5. Gemini 3.5 Flash stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
GPT-4.1 has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 87.4 versus 76.3. Gemini 3.5 Flash stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
For engineers, researchers, and the plain curious — a weekly brief on new models, ranking shifts, and pricing changes.
Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.