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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs DeepSeek-R1

Gemini 3.6 Flash comes out ahead, 73 to 51 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek-R1 is 22% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.6 Flash

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    73/100
    • ECI154.3
    • Price$0.75 / $3.75
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.6 Flash

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.6 Flash is our pick

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 3.6 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · Gemini 3.6 Flash $1.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · DeepSeek-R1: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.6 FlashDeepSeek-R1
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8464
Price25%4247
Inputs & features15%10035
Context window10%6124
Overall100%73/10051/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs DeepSeek-R1 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.6 FlashGoogleDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)154.3 (best)139.0
ECI rank#34 of 148 (best)#104 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions94.1% (best)71.7%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics59.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics94.2% (best)53.3%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions66.2%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75$0.70 (best)
Output$3.75$2.60 (best)
Cached input$0.075—
Blended (3:1)$1.50$1.18 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgemini-3.6-flash—
API providers25 (best)12
ReleasedJul 21, 2026Jan 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 2026Jul 2024
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 3.6 Flash$15.00
  • DeepSeek-R1$12.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.6 Flash or DeepSeek-R1?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or DeepSeek-R1?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.18 per million tokens for DeepSeek-R1 versus $1.50 for Gemini 3.6 Flash (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 (#34 of 148) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (152.6–156.3 vs 136.2–140.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3.6 Flash 94.1%, DeepSeek-R1 71.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 3.6 Flash 94.2%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.6 Flash and DeepSeek-R1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.6 Flash 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 3.6 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536, DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; DeepSeek-R1 accepts text. Gemini 3.6 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.6 Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the newest, released Jul 21, 2026. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.6 Flash Mar 2026, DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024.

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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