Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Muse Spark 1.1
Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73, Muse Spark 1.1 70, Gemini 3.5 Flash 69). The right pick depends on what you value most.
GoogleGemini 3.5 Flash
69/100- ECI154.5
- Price$1.50 / $9.00
- Context1.05M
- Google
Gemini 3.6 Flash
73/100- ECI154.3
- Price$0.75 / $3.75
- Context1.05M
MetaMuse Spark 1.1
70/100- ECI154.3
- Price$1.25 / $4.25
- Context1.05M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73/100, Muse Spark 1.1 70/100, Gemini 3.5 Flash 69/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemini 3.5 Flash for raw capability and Gemini 3.6 Flash on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3.5 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.5 Flash 154.5 · Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 · Muse Spark 1.1 154.3
- Lowest priceGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash $1.50 · Muse Spark 1.1 $2.00 · Gemini 3.5 Flash $3.38 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameGemini 3.5 Flash 1,048,576 · Gemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · Muse Spark 1.1 1,048,576 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.5 Flash and Gemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.5 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Gemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Muse Spark 1.1: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 84 | 84 | 84 |
| Price | 25% | 25 | 42 | 36 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 100 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 61 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 69/100 | 73/100 | 70/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3.5 FlashGoogle | Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle | Muse Spark 1.1Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 154.5 (best) | 154.3 | 154.3 |
| ECI rank | #33 of 148 (best) | #34 of 148 | #35 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 92.8% | 94.1% (best) | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 62.8% (best) | 59.0% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 95.6% (best) | 94.2% | — |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 79.3% | — | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.2% (best) | 66.2% (best) | 57.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.50 | $0.75 (best) | $1.25 |
| Output | $9.00 | $3.75 (best) | $4.25 |
| Cached input | $0.15 | $0.075 (best) | $0.15 |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.38 | $1.50 (best) | $2.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Google API | Official Meta API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | Yes | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-3.5-flash | gemini-3.6-flash | muse-spark-1.1 |
| API providers | 32 (best) | 25 | 13 |
| Released | May 19, 2026 | Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 9, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Mar 2026 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemini 3.5 Flash$33.00
- Gemini 3.6 Flash$15.00
- Muse Spark 1.1$21.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Muse Spark 1.1?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73/100, Muse Spark 1.1 70/100, Gemini 3.5 Flash 69/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemini 3.5 Flash for raw capability and Gemini 3.6 Flash on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Muse Spark 1.1?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is cheaper at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Muse Spark 1.1 costs $1.25 input / $4.25 output per million tokens (official Meta API price); Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.50 input / $9.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.50 per million tokens for Gemini 3.6 Flash versus $2.00 for Muse Spark 1.1 (1.3× as much) and $3.38 for Gemini 3.5 Flash (2.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3.5 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.5 Flash 154.5 (#33 of 148), Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 (#34 of 148) and Muse Spark 1.1 154.3 (#35 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (152.5–156.6 vs 152.6–156.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.5 Flash 66.2%, Gemini 3.6 Flash 66.2%, Muse Spark 1.1 57.8%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 share the same 1,048,576-token context window. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash up to 65,536, Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536, Muse Spark 1.1 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3.5 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Muse Spark 1.1 accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 3.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is the newest, released Jul 21, 2026. Muse Spark 1.1 came out Jul 9, 2026; Gemini 3.5 Flash came out May 19, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.5 Flash Jan 2025, Gemini 3.6 Flash Mar 2026.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
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