Gemini 3 Flash vs GPT-5 mini: Best Budget LLM in 2026?
Gemini 3 Flash and GPT-5 mini are the two strongest options when you want frontier-adjacent capability without flagship prices. Both come in under $1.25/1M blended. Flash has the higher intelligence score (46.43 vs 41.17 on the AA Intelligence Index) and beats Gemini 3 Pro on SWE-bench Verified. GPT-5 mini is cheaper and has a reasoning architecture that handles structured multi-step problems particularly well. The decision is closer than either company's marketing suggests.
Last updated: February 2026
Our Pick
Gemini 3 Flash
Gemini 3 Flash wins for most use cases at this price tier. It scores higher on the AA Intelligence Index (46.43 vs 41.17), runs at 214 t/s vs GPT-5 mini's 76, beats its own teacher model (Gemini 3 Pro) on SWE-bench Verified (78% vs 76.2%), is natively multimodal with video and audio support, and has a 1M token context window. GPT-5 mini wins on price — it's about 40% cheaper per token — and its reasoning architecture gives it an edge on structured multi-step problems where depth matters more than breadth. For most general use, Flash is the better model. For high-volume API workloads where cost is the primary constraint, GPT-5 mini is worth considering.
Try Gemini 3 FlashAt a glance
| Feature | Gemini 3 Flash | GPT-5 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 7.8 / 10 | 6.3 / 10 |
| Provider | OpenAI | |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 400K tokens |
| Input (per 1M tokens) | Free | $0.25 |
| Output (per 1M tokens) | Free | $2 |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | No |
Use case breakdown
214 tokens per second vs 76. Gemini 3 Flash is roughly 3× faster — important for real-time streaming, high-throughput APIs, and anything user-facing.
$0.69/1M blended vs $1.13/1M. GPT-5 mini is about 40% cheaper per token. At high API volume that gap compounds fast.
AA Intelligence Index: 46.43 (Gemini 3 Flash) vs 41.17 (GPT-5 mini). Flash scores meaningfully higher on the independently measured composite. It also beats Gemini 3 Pro on SWE-bench Verified — a result that surprised most benchmarkers.
Gemini 3 Flash handles text, images, audio, and video natively. GPT-5 mini supports text and images only.
gemini.google.com includes Gemini Flash in the free tier. GPT-5 mini's free tier hits daily limits faster.
1M tokens (Gemini 3 Flash) vs 400K (GPT-5 mini). 2.5× more context for the same price tier.
GPT-5 mini's reasoning architecture handles constrained multi-step problems — complex math, logic chains, instruction-following with many rules — more reliably than Flash. The 91% hallucination rate on Flash is also a factor: for tasks where factual precision matters without Search grounding, GPT-5 mini is more reliable.
FAQ
Is Gemini 3 Flash smarter than GPT-5 mini?
Yes, by our measurement. Gemini 3 Flash scores 46.43 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index vs 41.17 for GPT-5 mini — a meaningful gap. Flash also beats Gemini 3 Pro (its larger teacher model) on SWE-bench Verified (78% vs 76.2%). GPT-5 mini's reasoning architecture handles structured multi-step logic particularly well, so on that specific category the gap narrows.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash or GPT-5 mini?
GPT-5 mini is cheaper: $0.25/$2.00 per 1M tokens ($0.69/1M blended) vs Gemini 3 Flash at $0.50/$3.00 ($1.13/1M blended). GPT-5 mini is about 40% cheaper per token despite being less capable overall.
Can I use Gemini 3 Flash for free?
Yes — gemini.google.com includes Gemini Flash models in the free tier. Note that free API quotas were cut significantly in December 2025 (from ~250 to ~20 requests/day). The consumer product has no hard usage cap for typical queries. Google AI Studio also has a free API tier with rate limits.
Which should I use for video analysis?
Gemini 3 Flash. It natively processes video, audio, image, and text in a single API call. GPT-5 mini does not support video input.
What is the hallucination risk with Gemini 3 Flash?
High without mitigation. Artificial Analysis measured a 91% hallucination rate — meaning Flash fabricates confident wrong answers 91% of the time when it doesn't know something. Enable Google Search grounding for any task where factual accuracy matters. GPT-5 mini has a lower hallucination rate and is better for fact-sensitive tasks without grounding.