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Gemini 3 Flash vs Phi-4

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-4 specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceTie

    Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.

  • Context windowGemini 3 Flash

    Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 16K, 65.5× 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-4.

  • OpennessPhi-4

    Phi-4 ships open weights (MIT); Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.

On balance Gemini 3 Flash edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Phi-4's 1. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1.0M tokens vs 16K, 65.5× 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-4 handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Phi-4 ships open weights (MIT); Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.

Gemini 3 Flash is the newer of the two, released 12 months after Phi-4, 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-4 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

SpecGemini 3 FlashPhi-4
ProviderGoogleMicrosoft
ReleasedDec 2025Dec 2024
Modalitiestext, vision, audio, videotext
Context window1.0M tokens16K tokens
Max output65.5K tokens,
Input · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Output · 1MPricing not publishedPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff2025-01,
Open weightsNoYes (MIT)
API availableYesYes

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).

Price calculator

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-4Pricing unavailable

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Gemini 3 FlashPhi-4
  • MMLU,84.8
  • HumanEval,82.6
Pick Gemini 3 Flash if

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 16K for Phi-4.
  • Multimodal needs covering vision, audio, video.
Pick Phi-4 if

Phi-4 fits when…

  • Exceptional quality at 14B parameters
  • MIT license, clean commercial use
  • Strong on math
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (MIT).
Don't want either?

Consider Gemini 3 Pro

Google's late-2025 flagship, set new benchmarks on long-context, vision, and reasoning at competitive pricing.

See Gemini 3 Pro specsGemini 3 Flash vs Gemini 3 ProPhi-4 vs Gemini 3 Pro

Frequently asked

  • Is Gemini 3 Flash or Phi-4 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 16K for Phi-4.
  • Is Gemini 3 Flash or Phi-4 better for coding?
    Both Gemini 3 Flash and Phi-4 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-4 ships open weights (MIT). Gemini 3 Flash is API-only.
  • When were Gemini 3 Flash and Phi-4 released?
    Gemini 3 Flash was released by Google on 2025-12-09. Phi-4 was released by Microsoft on 2024-12-12.
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