Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3 14B
Gemini 3 Flash Preview comes out ahead, 73 to 68 and 54 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 14B is 46% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 3 Flash Preview
73/100- ECI151.8
- Price$0.50 / $3.00
- Context1.05M
xAIGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)
68/100- ECI152.0
- Price$1.25 / $2.50
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 14B
54/100- ECI138.2
- Price$0.35 / $1.40
- Context131K
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is our pick
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) (68) and Qwen3 14B (54). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 14B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 152.0 · Gemini 3 Flash Preview 151.8 · Qwen3 14B 138.2
- Lowest priceQwen3 14BQwen3 14B $0.613 · Gemini 3 Flash Preview $1.13 · Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) $1.56 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview 1,048,576 · Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 1,000,000 · Qwen3 14B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Grok 4.20 (Reasoning): Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3 14B: Text
- Self-hostingQwen3 14BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) | Qwen3 14B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 80 | 81 | 63 |
| Price | 25% | 47 | 41 | 60 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 80 | 35 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 60 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 68/100 | 54/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle | Grok 4.20 (Reasoning)xAI | Qwen3 14BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 151.8 | 152.0 (best) | 138.2 |
| ECI rank | #43 of 148 | #41 of 148 (best) | #107 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 89.4% (best) | 89.3% | 63.8% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 51.2% (best) | 44.9% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 95.6% (best) | 92.2% | 66.4% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 75.4% | — | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.8% (best) | 30.2% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 | $1.25 | $0.35 (best) |
| Output | $3.00 | $2.50 | $1.40 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.05 (best) | $0.20 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.13 | $1.56 | $0.613 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 200K: $2.50 / $5.00 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official xAI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 30,000 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | gemini-3-flash-preview | grok-4.20-0309-reasoning | qwen3-14b |
| API providers | 20 (best) | 11 | 1 |
| Released | Dec 17, 2025 | Mar 9, 2026 | Apr 29, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | — | Apr 2025 |
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 Flash Preview$11.00
- Grok 4.20 (Reasoning)$17.50
- Qwen3 14B$6.30
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3 Flash Preview, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) or Qwen3 14B?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) (68) and Qwen3 14B (54). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3 14B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash Preview, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) or Qwen3 14B?
Qwen3 14B is cheaper at $0.35 input / $1.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Gemini 3 Flash Preview costs $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) costs $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.613 per million tokens for Qwen3 14B versus $1.13 for Gemini 3 Flash Preview (1.8× as much) and $1.56 for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) (2.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 152.0 (#41 of 148), Gemini 3 Flash Preview 151.8 (#43 of 148) and Qwen3 14B 138.2 (#107 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (149.3–154.4 vs 150.4–153.7), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3 Flash Preview 89.4%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 89.3%, Qwen3 14B 63.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 3 Flash Preview 95.6%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 92.2%, Qwen3 14B 66.4%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) and Qwen3 14B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 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 Flash Preview has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) and 131,072 for Qwen3 14B. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3 Flash Preview up to 65,536, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) up to 30,000, Qwen3 14B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3 14B accepts text. Gemini 3 Flash Preview handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 14B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3 Flash Preview and Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is the newest, released Mar 9, 2026. Gemini 3 Flash Preview came out Dec 17, 2025; Qwen3 14B came out Apr 29, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3 Flash Preview Jan 2025, Qwen3 14B Apr 2025.
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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