Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Muse Spark 1.1 vs Qwen3.8 Max 0902
Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73, Muse Spark 1.1 70, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 67). The right pick depends on what you value most.
GoogleGemini 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
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max 0902
67/100- ECI155.2
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
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, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 67/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.8 Max 0902 for raw capability and Gemini 3.6 Flash on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityQwen3.8 Max 0902Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 0902 155.2 · 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 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1Gemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · Muse Spark 1.1 1,048,576 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Muse Spark 1.1: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Qwen3.8 Max 0902: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Muse Spark 1.1 | Qwen3.8 Max 0902 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 84 | 84 | 85 |
| Price | 25% | 42 | 36 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 90 | 80 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 61 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 70/100 | 67/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle | Muse Spark 1.1Meta | Qwen3.8 Max 0902Alibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 154.3 | 154.3 | 155.2 (best) |
| ECI rank | #34 of 148 | #35 of 148 | #28 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 94.1% (best) | — | 92.3% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 59.0% | — | 65.6% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 94.2% | — | 100% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.2% (best) | 57.8% | 47.3% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.75 (best) | $1.25 | $2.00 |
| Output | $3.75 (best) | $4.25 | $6.00 |
| Cached input | $0.075 (best) | $0.15 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.50 (best) | $2.00 | $3.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Meta API | Median of 6 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-3.6-flash | muse-spark-1.1 | — |
| API providers | 25 (best) | 13 | 6 |
| Released | Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 9, 2026 | Sep 2, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 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 3.6 Flash$15.00
- Muse Spark 1.1$21.00
- Qwen3.8 Max 0902$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3.6 Flash, Muse Spark 1.1 or Qwen3.8 Max 0902?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73/100, Muse Spark 1.1 70/100, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 67/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.8 Max 0902 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 3.6 Flash, Muse Spark 1.1 or Qwen3.8 Max 0902?
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); Qwen3.8 Max 0902 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). 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 $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Qwen3.8 Max 0902 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 0902 155.2 (#28 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 (153.2–157.3 vs 152.6–156.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.6 Flash 66.2%, Muse Spark 1.1 57.8%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 47.3%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.6 Flash, Muse Spark 1.1 and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 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 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 have the largest context windows (1,048,576 and 1,048,576 tokens), against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536, Muse Spark 1.1 up to 131,072, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Muse Spark 1.1 accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Qwen3.8 Max 0902 accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 3.6 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Gemini 3.6 Flash, Muse Spark 1.1 and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is the newest, released Sep 2, 2026. Gemini 3.6 Flash came out Jul 21, 2026; Muse Spark 1.1 came out Jul 9, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: 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.
