Google cut Gemini 3.6 Flash to match 3.8 Flash's introductory price, so the two now cost exactly the same — and both revert to the same higher rate on January 1, 2027. They also absorb traffic from two retired Flash models.
Price is identical: $0.75 input, $3.75 output and $0.075 cache hits per 1M on both, rising to $1.50/$7.50 on January 1. Choose on quality and behaviour from your own evals; for new work, the newer 3.8 Flash is the natural default.
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemini 3.6 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ||
| Tier | Mid-tier | Mid-tier |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.75 | $0.75 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $3.75 | $3.75 |
| Cache hit / 1M | $0.075 | $0.075 |
| Cache write / 1M | — | — |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Notes | On the Gemini API free and paid tiers; Gemini 3.7 Flash retired Oct 8, 2026 and now auto-routes here (requests still billed at this rate); intro price thru Dec 31, reverts to $1.50/$7.50 (cache $0.15) Jan 1 | Cut to match 3.8 Flash intro price thru Dec 31 2026, reverts to $1.50/$7.50 Jan 1; Gemini 3.5 Flash retired Oct 8, 2026 and now auto-routes here (billed at this rate, not its old $1.50/$9) |
Both charge $0.75 per 1M input tokens and $3.75 per 1M output tokens.
| Workload | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot 10,000 conversations × (2,000 input + 400 output tokens) | $30.00 | $30.00 | — |
| Document Q&A 1,000 questions × (30,000 input + 800 output tokens) | $25.50 | $25.50 | — |
| Coding agent session 4M input tokens (90% cache hits) + 150,000 output tokens | $1.13 | $1.13 | — |
Standard rates per 1M tokens from data on this site. The coding-agent row assumes 90% of input is read from the prompt cache (full input price where a model has no cache rate). Cache-write fees, batch discounts and long-context surcharges listed in the notes are not included. Updated November 2, 2026.
you are starting fresh and want the newest Flash model, or you were on Gemini 3.7 Flash — its requests already route here.
you have prompts tuned on 3.6 Flash, or you were on Gemini 3.5 Flash, whose requests now route here at this lower rate.
Gemini 3.7 Flash was retired on Oct 8, 2026 and auto-routes to 3.8 Flash; Gemini 3.5 Flash was retired the same day and auto-routes to 3.6 Flash, billed at 3.6's rate rather than its old $1.50/$9. If you never changed your model ID, you are already on one of these two — check which, since behaviour may differ from what you tested.
Both models' introductory price ends on Dec 31, 2026 and reverts to $1.50/$7.50 per 1M; Google's pricing page shows cache rates and cache storage doubling too. Because they move together, the choice between them won't change, but your Flash bill will roughly double. Batch processing halves both before and after the change.
Google lists free-tier access for both models, and neither has a long-context tier across its 1M window, so test both on the free tier before committing paid traffic.
No. Both cost $0.75 input and $3.75 output per 1M through Dec 31, 2026, and both revert to $1.50/$7.50 on January 1.
Both were retired on Oct 8, 2026. Gemini 3.7 Flash requests route to 3.8 Flash and 3.5 Flash requests route to 3.6 Flash, billed at the new model's rate.
Yes. Google's pricing page lists free-tier input, output and caching for both.
How we choose: prices come from each vendor's official pricing page and are re-checked every week. We take no affiliate fees, so rankings aren't for sale.