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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Qwen3.8 27B

Gemini 3 Flash Preview comes out ahead, 72 to 66 on our weighted score, though Qwen3.8 27B is 17% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3 Flash Preview

    Released Dec 17, 2025

    72/100
    • ECI152.0
    • Price$0.50 / $3.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3 Flash Preview

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 27B

    Released Aug 14, 2026

    66/100
    • ECI151.8
    • Price$0.40 / $2.55
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 27B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is our pick

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Qwen3.8 27B (66). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3.8 27B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 3 Flash PreviewCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3 Flash Preview 152.0 · Qwen3.8 27B 151.8
  • Lowest priceQwen3.8 27BQwen3.8 27B $0.938 · Gemini 3 Flash Preview $1.13 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview 1,048,576 · Qwen3.8 27B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3.8 27B: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3.8 27BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3 Flash PreviewQwen3.8 27B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7979
Price25%4549
Inputs & features15%10070
Context window10%6137
Overall100%72/10066/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Qwen3.8 27B specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogleQwen3.8 27BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)152.0 (best)151.8
ECI rank#53 of 165 (best)#54 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions89.4%—
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics51.2%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics95.6%—
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues75.4%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions66.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50$0.40 (best)
Output$3.00$2.55 (best)
Cached input$0.05—
Blended (3:1)$1.13$0.938 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 49 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgemini-3-flash-preview—
API providers3153 (best)
ReleasedDec 17, 2025Aug 14, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025—
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 Flash Preview$11.00
  • Qwen3.8 27B$9.10
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Qwen3.8 27B?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Qwen3.8 27B (66). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3.8 27B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Qwen3.8 27B?

Qwen3.8 27B is cheaper at $0.40 input / $2.55 output per million tokens (median across 49 API providers). Gemini 3 Flash Preview costs $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.938 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 27B versus $1.13 for Gemini 3 Flash Preview (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3 Flash Preview 152.0 (#53 of 165) and Qwen3.8 27B 151.8 (#54 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (150.6–153.7 vs 149.9–153.6), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 27B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3 Flash Preview 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 Flash Preview has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.8 27B. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3 Flash Preview up to 65,536, Qwen3.8 27B up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Qwen3.8 27B accepts text, images and video. Gemini 3 Flash Preview handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.8 27B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3 Flash Preview is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 27B is the newest, released Aug 14, 2026. Gemini 3 Flash Preview came out Dec 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3 Flash Preview Jan 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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