ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Grok 4.6 vs Qwen3.8 Max 0902

Gemini 3.8 Flash comes out ahead, 74 to 67 and 64 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.8 Flash

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    74/100
    • ECI157.6
    • Price$0.75 / $3.75
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.8 Flash

  2. xAI

    Grok 4.6

    Released Aug 12, 2026

    64/100
    • ECI156.9
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context500K
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.6

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max 0902

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI156.2
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 Max 0902
01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.8 Flash is our pick

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (67) and Grok 4.6 (64). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 3.8 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.8 Flash 157.6 · Grok 4.6 156.9 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 156.2
  • Lowest priceGemini 3.8 FlashGemini 3.8 Flash $1.50 · Grok 4.6 $3.00 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.8 FlashGemini 3.8 Flash 1,048,576 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 1,000,000 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.8 FlashGemini 3.8 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Grok 4.6: Text, Images · Qwen3.8 Max 0902: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.8 FlashGrok 4.6Qwen3.8 Max 0902
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%868584
Price25%402626
Inputs & features15%1007080
Context window10%614860
Overall100%74/10064/10067/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Grok 4.6 vs Qwen3.8 Max 0902 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.8 FlashGoogleGrok 4.6xAIQwen3.8 Max 0902Alibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)157.6 (best)156.9156.2
ECI rank#23 of 165 (best)#27 of 165#32 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions95.4% (best)94.0%92.3%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics68.4% (best)66.0%65.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics98.9%99.2%100% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions69.7% (best)49.3%47.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75 (best)$2.00$2.00
Output$3.75 (best)$6.00$6.00
Cached input$0.075 (best)$0.50—
Blended (3:1)$1.50 (best)$3.00$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateOver 200K: $4.00 / $12.00Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial xAI APIMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)500,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens500,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoYes
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesNoYes
ReasoningYeslow · medium · highYeslow · medium · high · xhighYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgemini-3.8-flashgrok-4.6—
API providers3233 (best)9
ReleasedSep 2, 2026Aug 12, 2026Sep 2, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Feb 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 3.8 Flash$15.00
  • Grok 4.6$32.00
  • Qwen3.8 Max 0902$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.6 or Qwen3.8 Max 0902?

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (67) and Grok 4.6 (64). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.6 or Qwen3.8 Max 0902?

Gemini 3.8 Flash is cheaper at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Grok 4.6 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price); Qwen3.8 Max 0902 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.50 per million tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash versus $3.00 for Grok 4.6 (2× as much) and $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.8 Flash 157.6 (#23 of 165), Grok 4.6 156.9 (#27 of 165) and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 156.2 (#32 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (155.5–160.9 vs 155.1–159.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3.8 Flash 95.4%, Grok 4.6 94.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 92.3%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Gemini 3.8 Flash 68.4%, Grok 4.6 66.0%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 65.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 0902 100%, Grok 4.6 99.2%, Gemini 3.8 Flash 98.9%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.8 Flash 69.7%, Grok 4.6 49.3%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 47.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.6 and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.8 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 3.8 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902 and 500,000 for Grok 4.6. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.8 Flash up to 65,536, Grok 4.6 up to 500,000, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Grok 4.6 accepts text and images; Qwen3.8 Max 0902 accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 3.8 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.6 and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the newest, released Sep 2, 2026. Qwen3.8 Max 0902 came out Sep 2, 2026; Grok 4.6 came out Aug 12, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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