Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Gemini 4 Argon
Harvey LAB-AA 1.1?
Gemini 3.8 Flashat high0
Gemini 4 Argon3.9
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Gemini 4 Argon |
|---|---|---|
| Arena Text · creative writing | 1,487 · high | 1,516 |
| Lech Mazur Short-Story | 0.1 · high | 0.8 |
| Harvey LAB-AA 1.1 | 0 · high | 3.9 |
| EQ-Bench Longform Creative Writing 1.11 | 76.8 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing v3 | 1,747.9 | — |
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.