Gemini 3.8 Flash API pricing
Official Google list price, last checked Oct 29, 2026. Updated Oct 29, 2026.
Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75 per 1M input tokens and $3.75 per 1M output tokens, cached input at $0.075, and a 1M-token context window, per Google's official pricing page (checked Oct 29, 2026). It's priced in the middle of the pack: number 44 of 77 by blended price ($1.50 per 1M tokens at a 3 to 1 input to output mix). On LMArena's Code Arena it ranks #25 of 50 models we price (relative score 16 out of 100). Cheaper pick: MiMo-V2.6 Flash scores 36 against 16 on the same board at $0.175 blended, 8.6x less. It's also one of our value picks for chat, creative writing.
Gemini 3.8 Flash price per million tokens
| Gemini 3.8 Flash price per million tokens | USD |
|---|---|
| Input | $0.75 |
| Cached input | $0.075 |
| Output | $3.75 |
| Blended, 3 parts input to 1 part output | $1.50 |
| Context window | 1M tokens |
| From Jan 1, 2027 | $1.50 in, $7.50 out |
Official note from Google: Through Dec 31, 2026. From Jan 1, 2027: $1.50 in, $7.50 out.
What Gemini 3.8 Flash costs for real work
List-price estimates for a month, no discounts. Our math, not a quote: change the token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
| Workload | Tokens a month | Gemini 3.8 Flash | ERNIE 5.0 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light: a side project or personal assistant | 2M in, 0.5M out | $3.38 | $3.37 | $1.20 |
| Medium: a small team or one product feature | 20M in, 5M out | $33.75 | $33.70 | $12.00 |
| Heavy: a production app | 200M in, 50M out | $338 | $337 | $120 |
| Medium with 80% of input cached | 20M in (16M cached), 5M out | $22.95 | n/a | $7.30 |
How Gemini 3.8 Flash ranks on LMArena
Relative score: 100 is the top model we price on that board. Rank is among the models in our price table, not the full leaderboard.
| Board | Rank | Score /100 |
|---|---|---|
| Coding (Code Arena) | #25 of 50 | 16 |
| Chat (Text Arena) | #5 of 51 | 54 |
| Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing) | #5 of 51 | 56 |
| Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn) | #3 of 51 | 46 |
| Reasoning and math (Text Arena math) | #3 of 51 | 85 |
| Vision (Vision Arena) | #4 of 33 | 80 |
| Cheap bulk and agents (Agent Arena) | #12 of 34 | 52 |
Closest rivals to Gemini 3.8 Flash
The models nearest in price, other makers first. Ranks are on Code Arena, where we have them.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| ERNIE 5.0 | $0.84 / $3.38 | $1.48 | Same price, no score to separate them. Compare |
| GLM-5 | $1 / $3.20 | $1.55 | Gemini 3.8 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| Grok 4.3 | $1.25 / $2.50 | $1.56 | Gemini 3.8 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| Step 5 Preview | $1 / $2.70 | $1.43 | Step 5 Preview for price, Gemini 3.8 Flash for quality. Compare |
Cheaper alternatives to Gemini 3.8 Flash
At least 40% cheaper blended, best LMArena score first.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.525 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| MiMo-V2.6 Flash | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.175 | MiMo-V2.6 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| MiMo-V2.6 Pro | $0.435 / $0.87 | $0.5437 | MiMo-V2.6 Pro wins on both. Compare |
More from Google
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite$0.30 in, $2.50 out per 1M
- Gemini 4 Argon$2 in, $10 out per 1M
- Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview$2 in, $12 out per 1M
FAQ
How much does the Gemini 3.8 Flash API cost per million tokens?
$0.75 per 1M input tokens and $3.75 per 1M output tokens, plus $0.075 per 1M for cached input, as of Oct 29, 2026. A typical 3 to 1 input to output mix works out to $1.50 per 1M tokens.
Does Gemini 3.8 Flash charge more for long prompts?
Yes. From Jan 1, 2027: $1.50 in, $7.50 out.
Is Gemini 3.8 Flash cheaper than ERNIE 5.0?
About the same. A medium month (20M input and 5M output tokens) costs $33.75 on Gemini 3.8 Flash and $33.70 on ERNIE 5.0 at list price. On Code Arena, Gemini 3.8 Flash ranks #25 and ERNIE 5.0 isn't ranked.
How does Gemini 3.8 Flash rank on LMArena?
On Code Arena it is #25 of 50 models we price, with a relative score of 16 out of 100. It ranks on 7 of 8 boards we track.
What is a cheaper alternative to Gemini 3.8 Flash?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.30 in and $1.20 out per 1M tokens, about 2.9x less blended, and scores 46 on Code Arena against 16 for Gemini 3.8 Flash.
Where does this Gemini 3.8 Flash price come from?
From Google's official pricing page, which we check every day. This page was last checked Oct 29, 2026.