Gemini 3.8 Flash High vs Gemini 4 Argon compared

Gemini 4 Argon leads the intelligence index 50.4 to 30.8. Gemini 3.8 Flash High costs 81% less on blended price. Benchmarks, sample bills, speed and a verdict.

Metric	Gemini 3.8 Flash (High)	Gemini 4 Argon (High)
Intelligence Index	30.8	50.4
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$0.75	$4.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$3.75	$20.00
Output speed (tokens/s)	121	89
Time to first token	27s	51s
Release date	2026-09-02	2026-09-30

Metric

Gemini 3.8 Flash (High)

Gemini 4 Argon (High)

Intelligence Index

30.8

50.4

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$0.75

$4.00

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$3.75

$20.00

Output speed (tokens/s)

121

Time to first token

27s

51s

Release date

2026-09-02

2026-09-30

Two Google models meet here: Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) and Gemini 4 Argon (High). Their widest difference is the intelligence index, with Gemini 4 Argon ahead by 19.6 points (50.4 versus 30.8). All numbers are the catalogue's recorded values; nobody ran either model by hand for this page.

Benchmark scores

The catalogue puts Gemini 3.8 Flash High at 30.8 and Gemini 4 Argon at 50.4 on its intelligence index. The difference is large enough that the lower-scoring model has to win on cost or speed to stay in the running.

For context, that places Gemini 3.8 Flash High 50th and Gemini 4 Argon 15th out of 109 scored models still on offer.

The catalogue does not yet split either model's score into coding and math indexes.

Running costs

Per million tokens, Gemini 3.8 Flash High charges $0.75 for input and $3.75 for output, while Gemini 4 Argon charges $4.00 and $20.00. That makes Gemini 3.8 Flash High's output 81% cheaper.

Take 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens: that comes to $1.50 on Gemini 3.8 Flash High and $8.00 on Gemini 4 Argon. For a chat app with 50,000 sessions of 800 input and 300 output tokens, Gemini 3.8 Flash High would come in 81% lower: $86.25 for Gemini 3.8 Flash High against $460 for Gemini 4 Argon. Blended at three input tokens per output token, the effective rates are $1.50 for Gemini 3.8 Flash High and $8.00 for Gemini 4 Argon.

Speed and latency

Gemini 3.8 Flash High generates about 121 tokens per second and Gemini 4 Argon about 89 tokens per second. On long outputs, that is a real advantage for Gemini 3.8 Flash High. The wait for the first token averages 27 seconds on Gemini 3.8 Flash High against 51 seconds on Gemini 4 Argon. Gemini 3.8 Flash High gets to its first token 1.9 times as fast. Waits that long are felt on every chat-style request, though they matter less for batch jobs.

Put together, a 400-token answer would take about 31 seconds from Gemini 3.8 Flash High and 55 seconds from Gemini 4 Argon, counting the first-token wait.

Is the price in proportion?

Dividing the blended price by the intelligence index gives a rough cost per point: $0.049 for Gemini 3.8 Flash High and $0.16 for Gemini 4 Argon, per million tokens. So Gemini 4 Argon buys its higher score at a premium, while Gemini 3.8 Flash High is the value pick, paying 69% less per point.

Which is newer

The release dates are September 2, 2026 for Gemini 3.8 Flash High and September 30, 2026 for Gemini 4 Argon, 28 days apart. That is close enough to count them as the same generation.

Common questions about Gemini 3.8 Flash High and Gemini 4 Argon

Is Gemini 4 Argon better than Gemini 3.8 Flash High?

Neither wins everywhere: Gemini 4 Argon scores higher on the intelligence index, 50.4 to 30.8; Gemini 3.8 Flash High is 81% cheaper on blended price; and Gemini 3.8 Flash High streams output 1.4 times as fast.

Are Gemini 3.8 Flash High and Gemini 4 Argon from the same company?

Both are Google models, listed as separate models in the catalogue. Gemini 3.8 Flash High was released on September 2, 2026 and Gemini 4 Argon on September 30, 2026.

Where do these numbers come from?

The figures are the recorded benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's model catalogue. This page is written from that data automatically; neither model was tested by hand for it.

Which is faster, Gemini 3.8 Flash High or Gemini 4 Argon?

Gemini 3.8 Flash High generates output faster, at 121 tokens per second against 89 tokens per second. Gemini 3.8 Flash High reaches its first token sooner (27 seconds against 51 seconds).

When were Gemini 3.8 Flash High and Gemini 4 Argon released?

Gemini 4 Argon is newer. It was released on September 30, 2026, 28 days after Gemini 3.8 Flash High (September 2, 2026).

Final whistle

The verdict: Gemini 4 Argon is the stronger all-round pick on this data, while Gemini 3.8 Flash High makes sense in narrower cases. Pick Gemini 4 Argon if you need the higher overall score (50.4 against 30.8). Pick Gemini 3.8 Flash High if cost matters ($3.75 against $20.00 per million output tokens) and users are waiting on the first word.

Where the numbers come from

The scores, speed and prices in this comparison come from independent third-party model evaluations that Franklin AI syncs each day, and the article was written from a snapshot of them. For the latest results, open the Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) and Gemini 4 Argon (High) pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.