Gemini 3.8 Flash High vs GPT-5.6 Terra Max compared

GPT-5.6 Terra Max leads the intelligence index 32.3 to 30.8. Benchmarks, sample bills, speed and a verdict.

Metric	Gemini 3.8 Flash (High)	GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)
Intelligence Index	30.8	32.3
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$0.75	$2.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$3.75	$12.00
Output speed (tokens/s)	121	116
Time to first token	27s	3.4 min
Release date	2026-09-02	2026-07-09

Metric

Gemini 3.8 Flash (High)

GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)

Intelligence Index

30.8

32.3

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$0.75

$2.00

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$3.75

$12.00

Output speed (tokens/s)

121

116

Time to first token

27s

3.4 min

Release date

2026-09-02

2026-07-09

Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) from Google and GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) from OpenAI land within 1.5 points of each other on the intelligence index. The clearest gap is on the bill: GPT-5.6 Terra Max is 3 times the blended price of Gemini 3.8 Flash High. No hands-on testing went into this write-up; it summarises the recorded benchmark, price and speed data for both models.

Token pricing and a sample bill

The list prices are $0.75 in and $3.75 out for Gemini 3.8 Flash High, and $2.00 in and $12.00 out for GPT-5.6 Terra Max, per million tokens. GPT-5.6 Terra Max costs 3.2 times as much per output token.

Take 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens: that comes to $1.50 on Gemini 3.8 Flash High and $4.40 on GPT-5.6 Terra Max. Scale it up to summarising 1,000 documents of 8,000 tokens into 400-token summaries and the bill is $7.50 for Gemini 3.8 Flash High against $20.80 for GPT-5.6 Terra Max. On a 3:1 blend of input to output tokens, that works out to $1.50 versus $4.50 per million.

Overall capability: 1.5 points apart

GPT-5.6 Terra Max comes out ahead on the intelligence index, 32.3 to 30.8. The lead is visible but narrow, so it should not decide the choice on its own. In relative terms, GPT-5.6 Terra Max scores 5% higher.

Across the 109 active models with an intelligence score in the catalogue, Gemini 3.8 Flash High ranks 50th and GPT-5.6 Terra Max ranks 46th.

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

Score per dollar

A blunt value measure, blended price over intelligence score, puts Gemini 3.8 Flash High at $0.049 and GPT-5.6 Terra Max at $0.14 per point. GPT-5.6 Terra Max costs 2.9 times as much per point, which is the price of its lead.

Generation gap

The release dates are July 9, 2026 for GPT-5.6 Terra Max and September 2, 2026 for Gemini 3.8 Flash High, about 2 months apart.

Waiting time

Measured output speed is 121 tokens per second for Gemini 3.8 Flash High and 116 tokens per second for GPT-5.6 Terra Max. Throughput is close to level. Time to first token is 27 seconds for Gemini 3.8 Flash High and 3.4 minutes for GPT-5.6 Terra Max. Gemini 3.8 Flash High gets to its first token 7.5 times as fast. Waits that long are felt on every chat-style request, though they matter less for batch jobs.

Put together, a 600-token answer would take about 32 seconds from Gemini 3.8 Flash High and 3.5 minutes from GPT-5.6 Terra Max, counting the first-token wait.

Common questions about Gemini 3.8 Flash High and GPT-5.6 Terra Max

Is GPT-5.6 Terra Max better than Gemini 3.8 Flash High?

Not across the board: GPT-5.6 Terra Max scores higher on the intelligence index, 32.3 to 30.8; Gemini 3.8 Flash High is 67% cheaper on blended price; and Gemini 3.8 Flash High reaches its first token sooner.

Which is newer, Gemini 3.8 Flash High or GPT-5.6 Terra Max?

Gemini 3.8 Flash High is newer. It was released on September 2, 2026, about 2 months after GPT-5.6 Terra Max (July 9, 2026).

Are Gemini 3.8 Flash High and GPT-5.6 Terra Max from the same company?

Gemini 3.8 Flash High is made by Google and GPT-5.6 Terra Max by OpenAI. Gemini 3.8 Flash High was released on September 2, 2026 and GPT-5.6 Terra Max on July 9, 2026.

How much do Gemini 3.8 Flash High and GPT-5.6 Terra Max cost?

Gemini 3.8 Flash High is cheaper on a blended basis. Gemini 3.8 Flash High lists $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens; GPT-5.6 Terra Max lists $2.00 and $12.00. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $1.50 against $4.40.

Was this comparison tested by hand?

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.

Final whistle

In one line: on balance the numbers favour Gemini 3.8 Flash High, though GPT-5.6 Terra Max keeps a case of its own. Pick GPT-5.6 Terra Max if you need the higher overall score (32.3 against 30.8). Pick Gemini 3.8 Flash High if cost matters ($3.75 against $12.00 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 GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.