Model comparison
Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemma 4 26B A4B IT
Gemini 3.6 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.1 to 43.5 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT costs 14× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.6 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 27 shared benchmarks.
GoogleSummary
- They share 27 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher in 8 categories and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT in 1 category; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Gemini 3.6 Flash leads 58.8 to 21.8.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Chess Puzzles: 43% for Gemini 3.6 Flash and 6% for Gemma 4 26B A4B IT.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper at $0.0675 / $0.23 per million input/output tokens, against $0.75 / $3.75 for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
- Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 262K.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ||
| Noometry Index | 54.1 | 43.5 |
| Released | 2026-07-21 | 2026-04-02 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1.05M | 262K |
| Max output | 66K | 33K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.75 | $0.0675 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $3.75 | $0.23 |
| Results tracked | 46 | 28 |
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Category by category
Coding Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 50.0 (#48), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 39.0 (#164)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1538 | 1359 |
| SciCode | 52.7% | 40% |
| WeirdML | 56.1% | 35.2% |
| LMArena Coding | 1491 | 1447 |
| ALE-Bench | 715.52 | 927.17 |
| DeepSWE | 46.7% | — |
| FrontierCode | 34.4% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 32.3 (#65), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: —
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 46.9% | — |
| GDP.pdf | 14% | — |
Reasoning Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 58.8 (#22), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 21.8 (#213)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 10.6% | 0% |
| Chess Puzzles | 43% | 6% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1485 | 1439 |
| DTBench | 95.5% | 74.9% |
| LMCA | 44.9% | 29.7% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 154.25 | 141.85 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 60.4% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 89% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 91.2% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 30% | — |
Math Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 57.3 (#40), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 47.6 (#67)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 94.2% | 82.2% |
| LMArena Math | 1505 | 1470 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 58.9% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 22% | — |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | 70.8% | — |
| ProofBench | 36% | — |
Knowledge Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 67.8 (#8), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.7 (#85)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 94.1% | 73.2% |
| LMArena Expert | 1488 | 1447 |
| SimpleQA Verified | 66.2% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.2% |
Multimodal Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 38.5 (#64), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 40.6 (#46)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1298 | 1260 |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | 31.2% | — |
| Furniture Assembly | 23.3% | — |
| LMArena Document | 1456 | — |
Multilingual Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 56.5 (#19), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 53.1 (#71)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1469 | 1421 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1531 | 1495 |
| LMArena French | 1504 | 1460 |
| LMArena Russian | 1487 | 1434 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1475 | 1417 |
| LMArena German | 1478 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1476 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1431 | — |
Instruction Following Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 77.0 (#33), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 74.8 (#82)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1466 | 1420 |
Long Context Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 45.1 (#50), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 43.6 (#91)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1474 | 1428 |
Writing & Preference Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 68.2 (#27), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 58.6 (#115)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1479 | 1434 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1465 | 1402 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1604 | 1305 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1481 | 1441 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.1 to 43.5 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT costs 14× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.6 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper. It lists at $0.0675 per million input tokens and $0.23 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.6 Flash lists at $0.75 and $3.75.
Is Gemini 3.6 Flash or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT better for coding?
Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.0 versus 39.0 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.6 Flash does, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT share?
27 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.6 Flash has 46 scored results on Noometry and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has 28.