Gemini 3 Flash vs GPT-5.4 Mini

The budget-tier battle from the big labs: Google's Gemini 3 Flash against OpenAI's GPT-5.4 Mini. These two carry most of the world's high-volume AI traffic; here is which one to default to.

The verdict

Gemini 3 Flash is the better default for high-volume work: $0.50 per million input tokens versus $0.75, a 1M token context window versus 400K, and lower output pricing too ($3 versus $4.50). For summarization, extraction, and routine agent steps, it simply does more for less.

GPT-5.4 Mini justifies its premium in two cases: you already run a ChatGPT or Codex setup where Mini comes bundled into the subscription flow, or your workload leans on the GPT family's specific strengths (it posts a notably strong 48.9 on the Intelligence Index at extra-high effort).

Both still cost more than the Chinese budget tier: if cost is truly the constraint, models like DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.098) sit another 5x lower. See our best cheap models ranking.

The facts, side by side
GeminiGemini 3 FlashOpenAIGPT-5.4 Mini
ProviderGoogle DeepMindOpenAI
Input price$0.5/M / 1M tokens$0.75/M / 1M tokens
Output price$3/M / 1M tokens$4.5/M / 1M tokens
Context1M tokens400K tokens
Open weightsNoNo
Free tierNoNo
ReleasedDec 2025Mar 2026

Prices and context are synced from live provider listings. Deep dives: Gemini 3 Flash and GPT-5.4 Mini.

Benchmark scores
Gemini 3 FlashGPT-5.4 Mini
Vending-Bench 23634.72 USD—
LiveCodeBench v690.8% (Reasoning)—
SWE-bench Verified75.8% (mini-SWE-agent, High)—
Terminal-Bench 2.064.3% (Junie CLI)—
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index46.4 (Reasoning)48.9 (xhigh)
SWE-bench Pro34.63%—
DeepSWE5%24% (Extra High)
Tau2-Bench Telecom—93.4%
FrontierCode Main—17.8%
FrontierCode Diamond—4.6%

Best published configuration per model. Every config and source is on the benchmark leaderboards.

Benchmarks, head to head

Every published configuration for Gemini 3 Flash and GPT-5.4 Mini on the benchmarks they share, charted side by side. Only these two models are plotted.

DeepSWE

Datacurve's agentic coding benchmark: each model runs as an autonomous agent on real software engineering tasks and is scored on whether its final patch resolves the issue. Higher is better.

Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index

The most-cited composite intelligence score: a 0–100 index combining knowledge, reasoning, math, coding, and agentic evaluations (GPQA Diamond, HLE, IFBench, SciCode, Terminal-Bench Hard, τ²-Bench, and more). Higher is better.

Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3 Flash better than GPT-5.4 Mini?

For most high-volume work, yes: cheaper ($0.50 versus $0.75 per million input tokens), a larger context window (1M versus 400K), and fast. GPT-5.4 Mini scores well at high effort settings (48.9 on the Intelligence Index) and fits naturally if you are already in the OpenAI ecosystem.

What should I use these budget models for?

The everyday 90% of agent work: summarization, extraction, routine code edits, classification, and sub-agent steps. They slip on long multi-step planning, which is where you escalate to a workhorse or flagship. Routing cheap-by-default with selective escalation is the standard cost pattern in 2026.

Are there cheaper alternatives than these two?

Yes, meaningfully cheaper: DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.098 per million input tokens), Qwen3.5 Flash ($0.065), and GLM 4.7 Flash ($0.06) all run 5 to 10 times below the big-lab budget tier and stay genuinely usable. Our best cheap models ranking compares them with current prices.

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