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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Grok 4.6

Gemini 3.5 Flash comes out ahead, 69 to 65 on our weighted score, though Grok 4.6 is 11% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.5 Flash

    Released May 19, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI154.5
    • Price$1.50 / $9.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.5 Flash

  2. xAI

    Grok 4.6

    Released Aug 12, 2026

    65/100
    • ECI156.6
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context500K
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.6

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.5 Flash is our pick

Gemini 3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Grok 4.6 (65). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Grok 4.6 wins on capability and price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGrok 4.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 · Gemini 3.5 Flash 154.5
  • Lowest priceGrok 4.6Grok 4.6 $3.00 · Gemini 3.5 Flash $3.38 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 3.5 Flash 1,048,576 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 3.5 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Grok 4.6: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.5 FlashGrok 4.6
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8486
Price25%2527
Inputs & features15%10070
Context window10%6148
Overall100%69/10065/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Grok 4.6 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.5 FlashGoogleGrok 4.6xAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)154.5156.6 (best)
ECI rank#33 of 148#19 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions92.8%94.0% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics62.8%66.0% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics95.6%99.2% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues79.3%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions66.2% (best)49.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$1.50 (best)$2.00
Output$9.00$6.00 (best)
Cached input$0.15 (best)$0.50
Blended (3:1)$3.38$3.00 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateOver 200K: $4.00 / $12.00
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial xAI API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)500,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens500,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgemini-3.5-flashgrok-4.6
API providers32 (best)29
ReleasedMay 19, 2026Aug 12, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Feb 1, 2026
03 — Cost

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
  • Grok 4.6$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash or Grok 4.6?

Gemini 3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Grok 4.6 (65). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Grok 4.6 wins on capability and price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Grok 4.6?

Grok 4.6 is cheaper at $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI 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 $3.00 per million tokens for Grok 4.6 versus $3.38 for Gemini 3.5 Flash (1.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Grok 4.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 (#19 of 148) and Gemini 3.5 Flash 154.5 (#33 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (154.7–158.9 vs 152.5–156.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.6 94.0%, Gemini 3.5 Flash 92.8%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Grok 4.6 66.0%, Gemini 3.5 Flash 62.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Grok 4.6 99.2%, Gemini 3.5 Flash 95.6%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.5 Flash 66.2%, Grok 4.6 49.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.6 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.6 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.5 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 500,000 for Grok 4.6. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash up to 65,536, Grok 4.6 up to 500,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.5 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Grok 4.6 accepts text and images. Gemini 3.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Gemini 3.5 Flash and Grok 4.6 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Grok 4.6 is the newest, released Aug 12, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash came out May 19, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.5 Flash Jan 2025, Grok 4.6 Feb 1, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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