Noometry

Model comparison

Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Step 3.5 Flash

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 52.3 to 41.7 on the Noometry Index. Step 3.5 Flash costs 7.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3 Flash Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 19 shared benchmarks.

Gemini 3 Flash Preview Google

52.3

Rank #33 Confirmed

Step 3.5 Flash StepFun

41.7

Rank #116 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 19 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3 Flash Preview scores higher in 8 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in reasoning, where Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads 49.2 to 21.2.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is NYT Connections (extended): 83.1% for Gemini 3 Flash Preview and 28.4% for Step 3.5 Flash.
  • Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.50 / $3 for Gemini 3 Flash Preview.
  • Gemini 3 Flash Preview accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 256K.
  • Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Gemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
ProviderGoogleStepFun
Noometry Index52.341.7
Released2025-12-172026-01-29
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1.05M256K
Max output66K256K
Input $ / M tokens$0.50$0.10
Output $ / M tokens$3$0.30
Results tracked5919

Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry

Category by category

Coding Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 51.5 (#35), Step 3.5 Flash: 41.7 (#106)

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Coding14601436
SWE-bench Verified75.4%—
SWE-bench Verified (bash only)75.8%—
LMArena WebDev1439—
SWE-bench Multilingual72.7%—
GSO9.8%—
WeirdML61.6%—
ALE-Bench1,367—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 38.6 (#27), Step 3.5 Flash: —

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
Terminal-Bench64.3%—
τ²-bench Airline82.5%—
τ²-bench Banking27.3%—
τ²-bench Retail76.8%—
τ²-bench Telecom91.2%—
DeepResearch Bench49.8%—
BALROG48.1%—
GDP.pdf10%—
LMArena Search1198—
Vending-Bench 23,635—

Reasoning Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 49.2 (#35), Step 3.5 Flash: 21.2 (#202)

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
NYT Connections (extended)83.1%28.4%
LMArena Hard Prompts14651411
ARC-AGI-233.6%—
SimpleBench61.1%—
ARC-AGI-184.7%—
Chess Puzzles40%—
Mystery Game Puzzles26%—
DTBench89.1%—
LMCA43.1%—
Epoch Capabilities Index151.83—
ForecastBench58.5—

Math Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 51.4 (#42), Step 3.5 Flash: 40.6 (#77)

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions67.6%66.8%
LMArena Math14721408
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)51.2%—
FrontierMath Tier 417.1%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202595.6%—
ProofBench15%—
FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set)35.6%—
FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1)4.2%—

Knowledge Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 58.8 (#30), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.0 (#127)

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Expert14611422
GPQA Diamond89.4%—
SimpleQA Verified66.8%—
Vectara Hallucination Rate13.5%—

Multimodal Not comparable

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 45.3 (#15), Step 3.5 Flash: —

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Vision1285—
GeoBench88%—
VPCT72.6%—
Blueprint-Bench 20%—
LMArena Document1413—

Multilingual Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 55.9 (#26), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.7 (#115)

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Non-English14581386
LMArena Chinese15101448
LMArena French14781421
LMArena German14971404
LMArena Japanese14881353
LMArena Korean14431350
LMArena Russian14801385
LMArena Spanish14701419

Instruction Following Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 75.8 (#52), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.3 (#119)

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Instruction Following14371385

Long Context Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 44.4 (#63), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#112)

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Longer Query14521402

Writing & Preference Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads

Gemini 3 Flash Preview: 65.6 (#44), Step 3.5 Flash: 59.0 (#108)

BenchmarkGemini 3 Flash PreviewStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Text14661403
LMArena Creative Writing14571357
LMArena Multi-Turn14711405

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3 Flash Preview better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 52.3 to 41.7 on the Noometry Index. Step 3.5 Flash costs 7.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3 Flash Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Gemini 3 Flash Preview lists at $0.50 and $3.

Is Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.5 versus 41.7 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview does, with 1.05M tokens against 256K.

How many benchmarks do Gemini 3 Flash Preview and Step 3.5 Flash share?

19 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3 Flash Preview has 59 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.

Related comparisons

Go deeper