Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3.6 Plus
Gemini 3 Flash Preview comes out ahead, 73 to 68 and 66 on our weighted score.
- 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)Qwen3.6 Plus
66/100- ECI147.6
- Price$0.50 / $3.00
- Context1M
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 Qwen3.6 Plus (66). It leads on inputs & features. 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 · Qwen3.6 Plus 147.6
- Lowest priceGemini 3 Flash Preview and Qwen3.6 PlusGemini 3 Flash Preview $1.13 · Qwen3.6 Plus $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 · Qwen3.6 Plus 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Grok 4.20 (Reasoning): Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.6 Plus: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) | Qwen3.6 Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 80 | 81 | 75 |
| Price | 25% | 47 | 41 | 47 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 80 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 60 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 68/100 | 66/100 |
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 | Qwen3.6 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 151.8 | 152.0 (best) | 147.6 |
| ECI rank | #43 of 148 | #41 of 148 (best) | #59 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 89.4% (best) | 89.3% | 88.4% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 51.2% (best) | 44.9% | 38.3% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 95.6% (best) | 92.2% | 93.3% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 75.4% (best) | — | 57.9% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.8% (best) | 30.2% | 44.1% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 (best) | $1.25 | $0.50 (best) |
| Output | $3.00 | $2.50 (best) | $3.00 |
| Cached input | $0.05 (best) | $0.20 | $0.05 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.13 (best) | $1.56 | $1.13 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 200K: $2.50 / $5.00 | Over 256K: $2.00 / $6.00 |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official xAI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 30,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-3-flash-preview | grok-4.20-0309-reasoning | qwen3.6-plus |
| API providers | 20 (best) | 11 | 18 |
| Released | Dec 17, 2025 | Mar 9, 2026 | Apr 2, 2026 |
| 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
- Qwen3.6 Plus$11.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3 Flash Preview, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) or Qwen3.6 Plus?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) (68) and Qwen3.6 Plus (66). It leads on inputs & features. 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 Qwen3.6 Plus?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is cheaper at $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $1.13 per million tokens for Gemini 3 Flash Preview versus $1.13 for Qwen3.6 Plus (1× as much) and $1.56 for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) (1.4× 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 Qwen3.6 Plus 147.6 (#59 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%, Qwen3.6 Plus 88.4%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Gemini 3 Flash Preview 51.2%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 44.9%, Qwen3.6 Plus 38.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 3 Flash Preview 95.6%, Qwen3.6 Plus 93.3%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 92.2%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3 Flash Preview 66.8%, Qwen3.6 Plus 44.1%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 30.2%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 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 1,000,000 for Qwen3.6 Plus. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3 Flash Preview up to 65,536, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) up to 30,000, Qwen3.6 Plus up to 65,536 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; Qwen3.6 Plus accepts text, images and video. Gemini 3 Flash Preview handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Gemini 3 Flash Preview, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) and Qwen3.6 Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.6 Plus is the newest, released Apr 2, 2026. Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) came out Mar 9, 2026; Gemini 3 Flash Preview came out Dec 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3 Flash Preview Jan 2025, Qwen3.6 Plus 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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