Gemini 3.6 Flash
Google · released Jul 21, 2026
- Type
- Closed
- Input
- $0.75
- Output
- $3.75
- Cached
- None held
List price · per 1M tokens · Google AI at 1M context · machine-readable source ↗
Our take
Written Aug 4, 2026Google's fast top-tier chat model currently tops the independent chat leaderboard we track. It accepts audio and video natively, which is unusual among top-tier models.
Pick this for high-volume production chat or multimodal work where top-tier quality is worth a mid-tier price. Skip it if you need AWS or Azure hosting, or if avoiding vendor lock-in is a priority.
The case for it
- First on Arena Text (overall), the independent human-preference board, as of July 2026.
- Roughly one-sixth the price of Claude Opus 5 for the tier.
- Accepts text, image, file, audio and video, the widest input set among top-tier models.
The case against it
- Google-only hosting: available on Google AI Studio, Vertex and OpenRouter, which routes back to Google.
- Not downloadable, so API access only; no self-hosting path.
How good is it?
A general-purpose assistant for everyday questions, drafting and coding, with strong tool-calling for multi-step requests.
- getting answers to everyday questionsArena Text (overall) · 14th of 168
- drafts, rewrites and editingArena Creative Writing · 9th of 168
- writing and completing codeArena Coding · 21st of 168
- calling tools to carry out requestsArena Agent · Tool use · 1st of 55
EverydayGeneral questions and everyday reasoning
Arena Text (overall)14th of 168 · 1484
Also on this board: 1482 (Sep 25, 2026). Read the pair, not the higher one.
CodingWriting and fixing code on its own
Arena Coding21st of 168 · 1523
Also on this board: 1518 (Sep 25, 2026). Read the pair, not the higher one.
AgenticPlanning, calling tools, staying on task
Arena Agent36th of 55 · −0.027
Also on this board: −0.07 (Sep 25, 2026). Read the pair, not the higher one.
WritingDrafting and rewriting prose
Arena Creative Writing9th of 168 · 1473
Also on this board: 1469 (Sep 25, 2026). Read the pair, not the higher one.
Placings on Arena's agent boards, from live sessions people ran themselves. A model can lead on one of these and sit mid-field on the others.
Boards this model appears on that none of the ratings above are built on.
Every published score for this model20 scoresEvery figure we hold, from 20 boards, with who ran it and a link to the source — including the boards no rating above is built on.
Where to rent it
Prices checked 4 hours ago — each listing carries its own date.
Google AI, direct
The lab is the cheapest at this context. The strip above and this offer are the same one, compared at 1M of context. 2 cheaper rows below are outside that comparison: a non-standard pricing tier.
- per 1M tokens
- $0.75 in / $3.75 out
- Context served
- 1M
- Throughput
- Not measured
| Provider | In / out per 1M tokens | Context | Throughput | Trains on prompts | Logs prompts | Zero retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Studioflex tierThrough OpenRouter | $0.38 / $1.88checked 4 hours ago | 1M66K max reply | 155 tok/s | No | Yes55 days | Unknown |
| Google Vertex AIflex tierglobalThrough OpenRouter | $0.38 / $1.88checked 4 hours ago | 1M66K max reply | 82 tok/s | No | No | Confirmed |
| Google AI StudioThrough OpenRouter | $0.75 / $3.75checked 4 hours ago | 1M66K max reply | 62 tok/s | No | Yes55 days | Unknown |
| Google AIDirect | $0.75 / $3.75checked 4 hours ago | 1M66K max reply | not measured | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| OpenRouterOpenRouter's own listing | $0.75 / $3.75checked 4 hours ago | 1M | not measured | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| Google Vertex AIglobalThrough OpenRouter | $0.75 / $3.75checked 4 hours ago | 1M66K max reply | 107 tok/s | No | No | Confirmed |
| Google Vertex AIusThrough OpenRouter | $0.82 / $4.13checked 4 hours ago | 1M66K max reply | 65 tok/s | No | No | Confirmed |
| Google AI Studiopriority tierThrough OpenRouter | $1.35 / $6.75checked 4 hours ago | 1M66K max reply | 69 tok/s | No | Yes55 days | Unknown |
| Google Vertex AIpriority tierglobalThrough OpenRouter | $1.35 / $6.75checked 4 hours ago | 1M66K max reply | 101 tok/s | No | No | Confirmed |
Google AI Studio
Google Vertex AI
OpenRouterAcross the 9 listings we hold: 7 say they do not train on prompts, 0 say they do and 2 do not say. 4 appear in the zero-retention registry we check; the rest are unknown to us.
What each host's API supports
From the parameter list each endpoint publishes. Streaming is omitted: nothing we hold reports it, for any model.
| Provider | Tool calling | JSON output | Strict schema |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI StudioflexThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google Vertex AIflex · globalThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google AI StudioThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google AIDirect | |||
| OpenRouterOpenRouter's own listing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google Vertex AIglobalThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google Vertex AIusThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google AI StudiopriorityThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google Vertex AIpriority · globalThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Tool calling: 8 of 9 listings say yes, 1 publishes no parameter list. JSON output: 8 of 9 listings say yes, 1 publishes no parameter list. Strict schema: 8 of 9 listings say yes, 1 publishes no parameter list.
Models people weigh against Gemini 3.6 Flash
When we formed this view
Recent changes
What moved
input −50% ($1.50 → $0.75 per 1M tokens), output −50% ($7.50 → $3.75 per 1M tokens)What moved
Gemini 3.6 Flash moved on 2 Google AI Studio listings: Google AI Studio (priority tier): input −50% ($2.70 → $1.35 per 1M tokens), output −50% ($13.50 → $6.75 per 1M tokens), cache read −50% ($0.270 → $0.135 per 1M tokens), cache write −50% ($0.150 → $0.075 per 1M tokens); Google AI Studio: input −50% ($1.50 → $0.75 per 1M tokens), output −50% ($7.50 → $3.75 per 1M tokens), cache read −50% ($0.150 → $0.075 per 1M tokens), cache write −50% ($0.0833 → $0.0417 per 1M tokens)What moved
Gemini 3.6 Flash moved on 2 hosts: Google (US region): input −50% ($1.65 → $0.82 per 1M tokens), output −50% ($8.25 → $4.13 per 1M tokens), cache read −50% ($0.165 → $0.083 per 1M tokens), cache write −50% ($0.0833 → $0.0417 per 1M tokens); Google AI Studio (flex tier): input −50% ($0.750 → $0.375 per 1M tokens), output −50% ($3.75 → $1.88 per 1M tokens), cache read −50% ($0.0750 → $0.0375 per 1M tokens), cache write −50% ($0.042 → $0.021 per 1M tokens)Each date is the day we first saw the change, or the day the maker announced it.
What we do not know about this model yet
- 1 of 9 listings publishes no parameter list, so what its API accepts is unknown to us.
- Nothing we hold says whether an endpoint streams, so we do not show it either way.
- 2 of 9 listings do not say whether they train on prompts.
- We hold no batch or off-peak rate for any of its listings.
Licence and identifiers
What the licence allowsWe hold no licence record for this model. Inside are the identifiers you need to pull it — its Hugging Face repo where we have one, our slug and a machine-readable card.
Licence
We hold no licence record for this model, and no record of published weights either — so we can neither summarise its terms nor point you at the weights.
Identifiers
- Takes in, gives back
- Text, images, audio, video and documents in, text out
- Catalogue slug
- google-gemini-3-6-flash