Gemini 3 Flash vs Phi-3.5 Medium
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Gemini 3 Flash specs · Phi-3.5 Medium specs- PriceTie
Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.
- Context windowGemini 3 Flash
Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K, 8.2× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesGemini 3 Flash
Gemini 3 Flash supports 4 modalities (text, vision, audio, video) vs 1 for Phi-3.5 Medium.
- OpennessPhi-3.5 Medium
Phi-3.5 Medium ships open weights (MIT); Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.
On balance Gemini 3 Flash edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Phi-3.5 Medium's 1. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K, 8.2× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Gemini 3 Flash handles text, vision, audio, video while Phi-3.5 Medium handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Phi-3.5 Medium ships open weights (MIT); Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.
Gemini 3 Flash is the newer of the two, released 16 months after Phi-3.5 Medium, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Gemini 3 Flash is usually picked for rag and summarization workloads, while Phi-3.5 Medium sees more deployments in on device and edge deployment. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Gemini 3 Flash | Phi-3.5 Medium |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Microsoft | |
| Released | Dec 2025 | Aug 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision, audio, video | text |
| Context window | 1.0M tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | 65.5K tokens | , |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-01 | , |
| Open weights | No | Yes (MIT) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day, vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs ,
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Gemini 3 FlashPricing unavailable
- Phi-3.5 MediumPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU,78.9
Gemini 3 Flash fits when…
- 1M-token context at mid-tier price
- Very fast, good for interactive UX
- Strong vision support
- Long-context tasks, handles 1.0M tokens vs 128K for Phi-3.5 Medium.
- Multimodal needs covering vision, audio, video.
Phi-3.5 Medium fits when…
- MIT license
- 128k context
- Strong reasoning at 14B
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (MIT).
Consider Gemini 3 Pro
Google's late-2025 flagship, set new benchmarks on long-context, vision, and reasoning at competitive pricing.
Frequently asked
Is Gemini 3 Flash or Phi-3.5 Medium cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 128K for Phi-3.5 Medium.Is Gemini 3 Flash or Phi-3.5 Medium better for coding?
Both Gemini 3 Flash and Phi-3.5 Medium are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Phi-3.5 Medium ships open weights (MIT). Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.When were Gemini 3 Flash and Phi-3.5 Medium released?
Gemini 3 Flash was released by Google on 2025-12-09. Phi-3.5 Medium was released by Microsoft on 2024-08-20.
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