Updated October 2, 2026. Rank says Gemini 3.5 Flash is ahead. Price, access, and your workload can each overturn that. Public scores include evidence status and uncertainty.
Both of these models will change. Get the price, version and retirement notices for the pair, each with its source. Follow model changes
Gemini 3.5 Flash has the higher public point estimate, 63.95 versus 59.19. Their conditional score ranges overlap. These ranges do not establish rank confidence. 12 results are shared. Category rows resting on Estimated evidence or different benchmark sets are marked directional and do not name a winner.
Recommendations appear only when a shared evidence basis or an explicit operating constraint supports the call. Secondary and unsupported use cases stay disclosed below the initial list.
Code generation, repair, and software-engineering tasks
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash has the higher public coding point estimate, 52.3 to 23, with Supported evidence for both models. The conditional ranges do not establish rank confidence.
Tool use, computer use, and multi-step task completion
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash has the higher public agentic point estimate, 50.7 to 24, with Supported evidence for both models. The conditional ranges do not establish rank confidence.
1K fresh input + 500 output tokens
Grok 4.20
Grok 4.20 has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Costs use the listed standard API rates.
200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens
Grok 4.20
Grok 4.20 has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Costs use the listed standard API rates.
50K fresh input + 3K output tokens
Grok 4.20
Grok 4.20 has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Costs use the listed standard API rates.
Prompts that approach the documented context limit
No clear pick
The documented context windows are equal.
Choose a job from the LLM Selector's task catalog to see the category row it rests on, under the same basis rules as the table below. A directional row stays directional; choosing a job never creates a winner.
The same task catalog as the LLM Selector. Each job names the evidence surface it rests on; nothing here adds a new score.
Like-for-like · BenchAlign v5.8
Gemini 3.5 Flash has the higher coding point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.
Coding scores combine specific tasks and setups. Match the editor, harness, and effort to your workflow.
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results present for only one model describe coverage, not superiority.
Only shared public evidence is shown. Sparse evidence stays a ruled list rather than being closed into a radar shape.
Too few matched category axes support a radar. The ruled list below shows only shared benchmark results; positions use each benchmark’s normalized display scale when available.
CharXivMultimodal
Normalized gap 23.3ARC-AGI-2Reasoning
Normalized gap 18.8MMMU-ProMultimodal
Normalized gap 8.4SWE-bench ProCoding
Normalized gap 3.3LiveCodeBench (Vals)Coding
Normalized gap 3.3Each row shows the public-lane category score for both models: the BenchAlign v5.8 lane for agentic, coding, and knowledge, and the weighted public rows elsewhere, with the same rank each model page reports. A row is like-for-like only when both scores rest on Supported evidence or the same weighted set. Directional and not-comparable rows remain visible, but they never receive a winner.
| Category | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Grok 4.20 | Basis | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agentic | 50.7Supported · #42/119 | 24.0Supported · #93/119 | Like-for-likeBenchAlign v5.8 lane · 8 vs 4 public rows | Gemini 3.5 Flash leads |
| Coding | 52.3Supported · #39/144 | 23.0Supported · #114/144 | Like-for-likeBenchAlign v5.8 lane · 7 vs 6 public rows | Gemini 3.5 Flash leads |
| Multimodal | 87.8#6/49 | 35.6#44/49 | Like-for-likeProvisional lane · 2 vs 2 weighted rows | Gemini 3.5 Flash leads |
| Knowledge | 64.0Supported · #30/171 | 50.2Supported · #64/171 | Like-for-likeBenchAlign v5.8 lane · 4 vs 6 public rows | Gemini 3.5 Flash leads · intervals overlap |
| Reasoning | 62.8#20/27 | 41.1Unranked · 2 rankable rows | Not comparableProvisional lane · 2 vs 2 weighted rows | Not comparable |
| Multilingual | Not ranked | Not ranked | Not comparableProvisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows | Not comparable |
| Instruction following | 84.1#43/125 | Not ranked | Not comparableProvisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows | Not comparable |
| Math | 55.1Unranked · 2 rankable rows | Not ranked | Not comparableProvisional lane · 2 vs 0 weighted rows | Not comparable |
Ranks count the models scored in each category’s lane, so the agentic, coding, and knowledge denominators (BenchAlign v5.8) differ from the provisional-lane categories. Unranked scores sit on the provisional lane’s scale but never name a winner. Like-for-like rows within 0.5 points read as a practical tie.
Three fixed token mixes turn per-token rates into comparable decisions. Each scenario states context fit and whether cached input had to fall back to the published list-input rate.
1K fresh input + 500 output tokens
Grok 4.20 has the lower modeled cost
Costs use the listed standard API rates.
50K fresh input + 3K output tokens
Grok 4.20 has the lower modeled cost
Costs use the listed standard API rates.
200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens
Grok 4.20 has the lower modeled cost
Costs use the listed standard API rates.
Sourced differences are shown directly. Missing facts stay explicit instead of being inferred from a model name or family.
Maximum documented context; output-token limits may be lower.
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Grok 4.20
1M
Gemini 3.5 Flash
gemini-3.5-flash
Google Gemini API pricingGrok 4.20
Not sourced
A missing cached-input rate falls back to the listed input rate only in the stated workload estimate.
Gemini 3.5 Flash
$0.15 per 1M cached input tokens
Google Gemini API pricingGrok 4.20
$0.2 per 1M cached input tokens
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Not sourced
Grok 4.20
Not sourced
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Not sourced
Grok 4.20
Not sourced
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Not sourced
Grok 4.20
Not sourced
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Reasoning
Grok 4.20
Reasoning
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Proprietary
Grok 4.20
Proprietary
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Proprietary
Grok 4.20
Proprietary
Gemini 3.5 Flash
2026-05-19
Grok 4.20
2026-03-10
Gemini 3.5 Flash has the higher public point estimate, 63.95 versus 59.19. Their conditional score ranges overlap. These ranges do not establish rank confidence. The page therefore keeps the decision tied to the specific documented workload.
Gemini 3.5 Flash has the higher public coding point estimate, 52.3 to 23, with Supported evidence for both models. The conditional ranges do not establish rank confidence.
Gemini 3.5 Flash has the higher public agentic tasks point estimate, 50.7 to 24, with Supported evidence for both models. The conditional ranges do not establish rank confidence.
For the stated presets, chat costs $0.006 on Gemini 3.5 Flash and $0.0025 on Grok 4.20; repository review costs $0.102 and $0.07; the cache-heavy agent loop costs $0.15 and $0.09. Costs use the listed standard API rates.
Both models list the same context window, 1M.
The full public result ledger is available for audit without forcing a wide desktop table onto a phone.
Terminal-Bench 2.1
Not directly comparable
MCP Atlas
Not directly comparable
Toolathlon
Not directly comparable
OSWorld-Verified
Not directly comparable
Finance Agent v2
Not directly comparable
Gert Labs
Shared sourceGemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
ResearchClawBench
Not directly comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals)
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
Terminal-Bench 2.0
Not directly comparable
DeepSearchQA
Not directly comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.1
Not directly comparable
SWE-bench Pro
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
Vibe Code Bench
Shared sourceGemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
cursorBench31
Not directly comparable
CursorBench 3.2
Not directly comparable
LiveCodeBench (Vals)
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
SWE-bench (Vals)
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
LiveCodeBench Pro
Not directly comparable
SWE-bench Verified
Not directly comparable
CharXiv
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
MMMU-Pro
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
Blueprint-Bench 2
Not directly comparable
ERQA
Not directly comparable
SimpleVQA
Not directly comparable
MedXpertQA (MM)
Not directly comparable
GPQA-D
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
HLE
Not directly comparable
GPQA Diamond (Vals)
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
MMLU-Pro (Vals)
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads this result
HLE w/o tools
Not directly comparable
HealthBench Hard
Not directly comparable
MedXpertQA (Text)
Not directly comparable
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Last updated October 2, 2026
