Model comparison

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Gemma 4 26B A4B IT

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 43.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT costs 12× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.8 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 26 shared benchmarks.

Gemini 3.8 Flash Google

59.5

Rank #13 Confirmed

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT Google

43.1

Rank #88 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 26 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher in 9 categories and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in reasoning, where Gemini 3.8 Flash leads 64.7 to 21.1.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is Chess Puzzles: 61% for Gemini 3.8 Flash and 6% for Gemma 4 26B A4B IT.
  • Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper at $0.0765 / $0.26 per million input/output tokens, against $0.75 / $3.75 for Gemini 3.8 Flash.
  • Gemini 3.8 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 3.8 Flash and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT specifications
Gemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
ProviderGoogleGoogle
Noometry Index59.543.1
Released2026-09-022026-04-02
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1.05M262K
Max output66K33K
Input $ / M tokens$0.75$0.0765
Output $ / M tokens$3.75$0.26
Results tracked4628

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Category by category

Coding Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 56.4 (#17), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 38.8 (#156)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
LMArena WebDev15811359
SciCode56.6%40%
LMArena Coding15121446
ALE-Bench1,270927.17
DeepSWE73.8%—
FrontierCode41.2%—
CursorBench39.6%—
FrontierSWE19.6%—
WeirdML—35.2%

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 40.3 (#22), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
APEX-Agents64.3%—
GDP.pdf23.4%—
Vending-Bench 25,094—

Reasoning Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 64.7 (#13), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 21.1 (#205)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
CritPt18.3%0%
Chess Puzzles61%6%
LMArena Hard Prompts15061438
DTBench95.7%74.9%
LMCA52.9%29.7%
Epoch Capabilities Index157.13141.85
NYT Connections (extended)97.4%—
Mystery Game Puzzles47%—
Surface Evolver Bench76.9%—

Math Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 65.2 (#22), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.7 (#61)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202598.9%82.2%
LMArena Math15281469
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)68.4%—
FrontierMath Tier 422%—
ProofBench48%—

Knowledge Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 74.9 (#2), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.6 (#79)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
GPQA Diamond95.4%73.2%
LMArena Expert15291447
Humanity's Last Exam44.5%—
SimpleQA Verified69.7%—
Vectara Hallucination Rate—5.2%

Multimodal Too close to call

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 40.9 (#33), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 39.9 (#43)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
LMArena Vision13121260
Blueprint-Bench 238.6%—
Furniture Assembly31.7%—

Multilingual Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 57.9 (#5), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 53.3 (#68)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
LMArena Non-English14861422
LMArena Chinese15471495
LMArena French15021459
LMArena Russian15071434
LMArena Spanish14921415
LMArena German1470—
LMArena Japanese1505—
LMArena Korean1479—

Instruction Following Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 78.2 (#11), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 75.0 (#78)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
LMArena Instruction Following14891420

Long Context Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 46.2 (#23), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 43.6 (#87)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
LMArena Longer Query15061427

Writing & Preference Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 72.1 (#16), Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 58.8 (#110)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGemma 4 26B A4B IT
LMArena Text14941434
LMArena Creative Writing14851401
EQ-Bench Creative Writing17481305
LMArena Multi-Turn15031442

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3.8 Flash better than Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 43.1 on the Noometry Index. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT costs 12× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.8 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper. It lists at $0.0765 per million input tokens and $0.26 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.8 Flash lists at $0.75 and $3.75.

Is Gemini 3.8 Flash or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT better for coding?

Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 56.4 versus 38.8 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.8 Flash does, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT share?

26 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.8 Flash has 46 scored results on Noometry and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has 28.

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