Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Gemini 4 Argon
Different efforts: medium · high · Compare all at high
Terminal-Bench 4.0 Terminal-Bench 4.0 · source setting 2: Agents use a terminal to complete executable coding, system administration and research tasks in the 4.0 suite
Gemini 3.8 Flash19.7
Gemini 4 Argon57.1
FrontierCode 1.1 FrontierCode 1.1: Agents implement changes in real repositories, graded against maintainer-defined requirements
Gemini 3.8 Flash · high36.4
Gemini 4 Argon43.5
WebDev Arena WebDev Arena: Human pairwise preferences in the stated webdev vote pool
Gemini 3.8 Flash · high1,585
Gemini 4 Argon1,678
SWE-bench Pro (v2 full) SWE-bench Pro (v2 full): Agents resolve repository issues under the network-locked v2 protocol; full and 51-task Hard results are separate
Gemini 3.8 Flash · high94.9
Gemini 4 Argon99.2
SWE-bench Pro (v2 hard) SWE-bench Pro (v2 hard): Agents resolve repository issues under the network-locked v2 protocol; full and 51-task Hard results are separate
Gemini 3.8 Flash · high58.8
Gemini 4 Argon92.2
SciCode SciCode: Writing code for real scientific computing problems (physics, biology, math)
Gemini 3.8 Flash55.1
Gemini 4 Argon61.8
Terminal-Bench Science 0.1 Terminal-Bench Science 0.1: Agents complete expert-authored research workflows across five scientific domains in a terminal
Gemini 3.8 Flash · high10
Gemini 4 Argon52.9
DeepSWE 1.1 DeepSWE 1.1: Agents change repository code to resolve software engineering tasks under the stated DeepSWE edition
Gemini 3.8 Flash71
Gemini 4 Argon—
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | 19.7 | 57.1 |
| FrontierCode 1.1 | 36.4 · high | 43.5 |
| WebDev Arena | 1,585 · high | 1,678 |
| SWE-bench Pro (v2 full) | 94.9 · high | 99.2 |
| SWE-bench Pro (v2 hard) | 58.8 · high | 92.2 |
| SciCode | 55.1 | 61.8 |
| Terminal-Bench Science 0.1 | 10 · high | 52.9 |
| DeepSWE 1.1 | 71 | — |
Specs
| Spec | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon |
|---|---|---|
| Input, per 1M | !$0.75 | !$2 |
| Output, per 1M | !$3.75 | !$10 |
| Cost per task? | $0.93 | $1.99 |
| Speed, tok/s | — | 84 |
| Context | 1M | 1M |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Released | Sep 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| See images | ✓ | ✓ |
| Read PDFs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hear audio | ✓ | ✓ |
| Watch video | ✓ | ✓ |
| Call tools | ✓ | ✓ |
| Force a tool call | Partial | Partial |
| Return strict JSON | ✓ | ✓ |
| Search the web | ✓ | ✓ |
| Run code | ✓ | ✓ |
| Use a computer | ? | ? |
What breaks when you switch
Gemini 3.8 Flash → Gemini 4 Argon
Synchronous output stops at 65,536›
With background false, output limits above 65,536 tokens return HTTP 400; stay at or below that limit.
Sampling parameters are ignored›
temperature, top_p and top_k are ignored; remove them from requests.
No explicit caching›
Explicit caching is unavailable; omit explicit cache requests.
Gemini 4 Argon → Gemini 3.8 Flash
Sampling parameters are ignored›
temperature, top_p and top_k are ignored now and will cause HTTP 400 in future generations; remove them from requests.
No minimal thinking level›
The minimal thinking level returns an error; avoid minimal.