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Gemini 3 Flash vs GPT-4o Mini

Complete pricing and performance comparison between Google's Gemini 3 Flash and OpenAI's GPT-4o Mini.

Quick Verdict

Cheaper
GPT-4o Mini
3.3x cheaper input, 5.0x cheaper output
Larger Context
Gemini 3 Flash
1.0M vs 128K
Higher Quality
Gemini 3 Flash
Score: 35 vs 13
Faster
Gemini 3 Flash
184 vs 61 tok/s

Pricing Comparison

SpecGemini 3 FlashGPT-4o MiniDifference
ProviderGoogleOpenAI
Input / 1M tokens$0.5$0.15GPT-4o Mini is 70% more expensive
Output / 1M tokens$3$0.6GPT-4o Mini is 80% more expensive
Context Window1.0M128K8x difference
Max Output66K16K
Tokenizercl100k_baseo200k_base

Performance Benchmarks

MetricGemini 3 FlashGPT-4o MiniWinner
Quality Index3513Gemini 3 Flash
Output Speed184 tok/s61 tok/sGemini 3 Flash
Time to First Token0.80s0.58sGPT-4o Mini
Value (Quality/$)70.084.0Higher = better value

Benchmark data from Artificial Analysis. Quality Index is a composite score across reasoning, coding, and knowledge tasks.

Cost at Scale

Estimated cost at different usage levels (3:1 input-to-output token ratio, typical for chat).

UsageGemini 3 FlashGPT-4o MiniSavings
Single request
1K in / 300 out
$0.0014$0.0003GPT-4o Mini saves $0.0011
10 requests
10K in / 3K out
$0.014$0.0033GPT-4o Mini saves $0.011
100 requests
100K in / 30K out
$0.140$0.033GPT-4o Mini saves $0.107
1,000 requests
1M in / 300K out
$1.40$0.330GPT-4o Mini saves $1.07
10,000 requests
10M in / 3M out
$14.00$3.30GPT-4o Mini saves $10.70
1M requests/mo
1B in / 300M out
$1400.00$330.00GPT-4o Mini saves $1070.00

Pros & Cons

Gemini 3 Flash Strengths

  • +Larger context window (1.0M vs 128K)
  • +Higher max output tokens
  • +Faster output (184 vs 61 tok/s)
  • +Higher quality score (35 vs 13)

GPT-4o Mini Strengths

  • +Cheaper input tokens
  • +Cheaper output tokens
  • +Lower latency (faster first token)

When to Use Each Model

Choose Gemini 3 Flash for

  • Long documents, large codebases, or multi-turn conversations
  • Generating long-form content or detailed code
  • Tasks requiring maximum accuracy and reasoning
  • Real-time applications, chat, or autocomplete

Choose GPT-4o Mini for

  • Budget-conscious projects where cost is the primary factor

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash or GPT-4o Mini?
For input tokens, GPT-4o Mini is 3.3x cheaper at $0.15/1M tokens. For output tokens, GPT-4o Mini is 5.0x cheaper at $0.6/1M tokens. At typical usage (1M input + 300K output), Gemini 3 Flash costs $1.40 vs GPT-4o Mini at $0.330.
What's the context window difference?
Gemini 3 Flash supports 1.0M context (1,048,576 tokens), while GPT-4o Mini supports 128K (128,000 tokens). Gemini 3 Flash can handle 8x more context in a single request.
Which model has better benchmarks?
Quality Index: Gemini 3 Flash scores 35 vs GPT-4o Mini at 13. Speed: Gemini 3 Flash generates 184 tok/s vs GPT-4o Mini at 61 tok/s. Time to first token: Gemini 3 Flash at 0.80s vs GPT-4o Mini at 0.58s.
When should I choose Gemini 3 Flash over GPT-4o Mini?
Choose Gemini 3 Flash when you need: Larger context window (1.0M vs 128K), Higher max output tokens, Faster output (184 vs 61 tok/s), Higher quality score (35 vs 13). Choose GPT-4o Mini when you need: Cheaper input tokens, Cheaper output tokens, Lower latency (faster first token).
How much would 10,000 API requests cost?
At 1K input + 300 output tokens per request (typical chat): Gemini 3 Flash = $14.00, GPT-4o Mini = $3.30. At 10K input + 1K output per request (longer conversations): Gemini 3 Flash = $80.00, GPT-4o Mini = $21.00.

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