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Model Drop

Gemini 3.8 Flash

Gemini 3.8 Flash
Gemini 3.8 Flash

Gemini 3.8 Flash, which Google DeepMind shipped on September 2, 2026, is its most capable Flash model yet, built for long-horizon coding, autonomous agents and enterprise workflows.

  • Model: Gemini 3.8 Flash (gemini-3.8-flash)

  • Maker: Google DeepMind

  • Ship date: September 2, 2026

  • Pricing: $0.75 / $3.75 per M tokens (introductory through December 31, 2026; $1.50 / $7.50 after)

  • Context: 1M tokens

  • Where you can use it:

  • When to reach for it:

    • Long-horizon coding and terminal agents

    • Finance and legal analyst workflows

    • Skip it when token count must stay low

  • How it compares:

    • Far cheaper than Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Terra

    • Grok 4.6 still scores higher overall

  • What makes it different:

    • Works harder: more steps and tool calls

    • Cyber twin limited to vetted defenders

  • Early reactions: The Register said it put Google back in the race as the cheapest model at its intelligence level, though it spends more tokens per task than 3.7 Flash.

  • Read more: Introducing Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber, Gemini 3.8 Flash model card

The benchmarks

Gemini 3.8 Flash at default API settings (medium thinking by default; high thinking on DeepSWE, run by Google in a mini-swe agent harness); Google showed Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-5.6 Terra (Sonnet 5 and Terra at max reasoning), from self-reports, public leaderboards or Google's own runs (OSWorld-2.0, HLE-Verified), and its Opus 5 DeepSWE figure carries a correction note, so it's left out here.

Google DeepMind's numbers

  • DeepSWE v1.1 (long-horizon software engineering): 73.7%. +19.9 over Claude Sonnet 5 (53.8%), +1.0 over GPT-5.6 Sol (72.7%), +4.1 over GPT-5.6 Terra (69.6%), +8.4 over Gemini 3.7 Flash (65.3%).

  • Terminal-Bench 2.1 (agentic terminal coding): 89.4%. +0.3 over Claude Opus 5 (89.1%), +9.0 over Claude Sonnet 5 (80.4%), +0.6 over GPT-5.6 Sol (88.8%), +2.0 over GPT-5.6 Terra (87.4%).

  • Terminal-Bench 4.0 (general agent tasks): 19.1%. −32.7 under Claude Opus 5 (51.8%), +6.7 over Claude Sonnet 5 (12.4%), −18.2 under GPT-5.6 Sol (37.3%), −4.5 under GPT-5.6 Terra (23.6%).

  • GDPval-AA v2 (knowledge work Elo): 1545. −279 under Claude Opus 5 (1824), −39 under Claude Sonnet 5 (1584), −165 under GPT-5.6 Sol (1710), +17 over GPT-5.6 Terra (1528).

  • Vals Finance Agent v2 (financial analyst tasks): 61.4%. +2.8 over Claude Opus 5 (58.6%), +7.5 over Claude Sonnet 5 (53.9%), +7.6 over GPT-5.6 Sol (53.8%), +7.0 over GPT-5.6 Terra (54.4%).

  • Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (all-pass rate): 10.0%. +3.3 over Claude Opus 5 (6.7%), +5.0 over Claude Sonnet 5 (5.0%), +7.5 over GPT-5.6 Sol (2.5%), +9.2 over GPT-5.6 Terra (0.8%).

  • HLE-Verified (expert reasoning, cleaned set): 54.9%. +0.5 over Claude Opus 5 (54.4%), +23.9 over Claude Sonnet 5 (31.0%), +0.4 over GPT-5.6 Sol (54.5%), +3.8 over GPT-5.6 Terra (51.1%).

  • OSWorld-2.0 (computer use, partial score): 59.0%. −16.4 under Claude Opus 5 (75.4%), +16.4 over Claude Sonnet 5 (42.6%), −3.6 under GPT-5.6 Sol (62.6%), +8.8 over GPT-5.6 Terra (50.2%).

Independent numbers

  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (current v4.3.2): 40.9. +2.7 over Claude Sonnet 5 (max) (38.2), −1.2 under GPT-5.6 Terra (max) (42.1), −3.4 under Grok 4.6 (high) (44.3).

  • ARC-AGI-2 (ARC Prize verified puzzles): 89.2%. +5.3 over GPT-5.6 Terra (max) (83.9%), +24.1 over Grok 4.6 (high) (65.1%).

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