Gemini 3.8 Flash API pricing
Google · Mid-range price tier · Proprietary · released 2026-09. Prices in USD per 1 million tokens. Data snapshot: 2026-10-22.
Promotional rate. The price we quote is 50% off Google's standard $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $7.50 per 1M output tokens, and Google states the promotion ends on 31 Dec 2026.
Gemini 3.8 Flash has held the same list price since 2026-09-03 and is the 45th cheapest of 113 models in the Mid-range price tier. None of its 2 hosts undercuts the price we quote. It holds the FinOps Friendly badge: top-40% Arena quality, top-30% Efficiency, not among the dearest 30%, and no stability flag.
- Input: $0.75 per 1M tokens
- Output: $3.75 per 1M tokens
- Batch API (in/out): $0.375 / $1.875 per 1M tokens
- Prompt-cache read: $0.075 per 1M tokens
- Context window: 1M tokens
- Arena ELO: 1497 as of 2026-10-08
Market position
On blended price ($2.85 per 1M tokens at 30% input, 70% output) it is cheaper than 59% of models in the Mid-range price tier: 45th cheapest of 113, tied with 2 others. Across every price tier it is cheaper than 32% of priced text models in the catalogue: 209th cheapest of 308, tied with 2 others. Its Arena ELO of 1497 ranks 6th of the 156 models that carry one, above 97% of them. With an Arena score of 1497, Gemini 3.8 Flash clears OptimNow's Strong and Standard working quality thresholds: Strong (Arena 1465+), used for support ticket, knowledge Q&A and marketing content; Standard (Arena 1415+), used for meeting summary, invoice processing and call summary. It is 3 points under the Frontier-grade bar (Arena 1500+), within the benchmark's 20-point noise. Each threshold is a distance below the best ranked model, which scores 1525 on Arena scores as of 8 Oct 2026.
Licence, size and capabilities
Gemini 3.8 Flash is recorded here as proprietary: access is through an API, priced by the token. Its parameter count is not published. Listed capabilities: Text, Vision, Audio, Reasoning, Agents. Filling its 1M context window once costs $0.75 in input tokens at list price.
Pricing by host
A host is a company that runs the model and sells it by the token: the model maker, a cloud platform like Amazon Bedrock, Azure or Vertex, or an independent host. One model, several hosts, and often several prices. This model is sold by 2 different hosts. The price we quote elsewhere on this page is marked. We quote one host's rate so that models stay comparable; it is not a recommendation to buy there.
The price we quote is already the cheapest of the 2 hosts: Google AI Studio at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per 1M tokens. All of them charge within 10% of one another.
| Host | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Studio (model maker, price we quote) | $0.75 | $3.75 |
| Google (price we quote) | $0.75 | $3.75 |
List prices as published on 2026-10-22, via OpenRouter. Negotiated rates, committed-use discounts and provisioned capacity are not shown. These listings are promotional rates, below the host's standard rate: Google AI Studio's, 50% off; and Google's, 50% off.
Monthly cost at 100K requests, by business use case
From the after-discounts figure (prompt caching on the cached input share, batch API for async workloads, only where Google publishes those rates), which assumes you implement both, to the list price. One figure means no discount is published.
| Use case | Tokens (in/out) | Monthly (after discounts – list) |
|---|---|---|
| Support Ticket | 1,500 / 500 | $239 – $300 |
| Knowledge Q&A | 2,000 / 800 | $356 – $450 |
| Meeting Summary | 10,000 / 1,200 | $570 – $1.2K |
| Marketing Content | 2,500 / 1,800 | $829 – $863 |
| Coding Task | 3,000 / 2,000 | $874 – $975 |
| Invoice Processing | 1,500 / 600 | $155 – $338 |
| Call Summary | 2,000 / 700 | $200 – $413 |
| Agent Workflow | 6,000 / 3,000 | $1.3K – $1.6K |
Price history
Gemini 3.8 Flash entered our daily price archive on 2026-09-03; tracking began on 2026-08-15. It listed at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per 1M tokens that day. No list price change since 2026-09-03. Last checked against the 2026-10-22 snapshot.
Alternatives to Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Next cheaper model in the Mid-range price tier: Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Alibaba) at $2.67 blended, 6% less.
- Next more expensive: Sakana Namazu (sakana) at $3.085 blended, 8% more.
The nearest models in the Mid-range price tier on Arena ELO, each with its blended price and score difference against Gemini 3.8 Flash.
- Muse Spark 1.3 (meta): $1.25 in / $4.25 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1494 (18% more expensive, 3 ELO points lower)
- Muse Spark 1.2 (meta): $1.25 in / $4.25 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1492 (18% more expensive, 5 ELO points lower)
- Muse Spark 1.1 (meta): $1.25 in / $4.25 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1491 (18% more expensive, 6 ELO points lower)
- Kimi K3 (Moonshot): $0.239 in / $11.936 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1488 (196% more expensive, 9 ELO points lower)
- Cheapest within 15 Arena points: Gemini 3.8 Flash is itself the cheapest of the 17 models scoring within 15 points of its ELO.
- Highest Arena ELO within 20% of this price: Gemini 3.8 Flash itself has the highest score of the 18 models priced within 20% of it.
Other models from Google
The 8 nearest to Gemini 3.8 Flash in price, of 24 other Google models in the catalogue. Prices per 1M tokens, input then output.
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview: $0.50 / $3.00
- Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image): $0.50 / $3.00
- Gemini 3.6 Flash: $0.75 / $3.75
- Gemini 3.7 Flash: $0.75 / $3.75
- Nano Banana 2.1: $1.50 / $7.50
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: $1.50 / $9.00
- Gemini 2.5 Pro: $1.25 / $10.00
- Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview: $1.25 / $10.00
All 25 Google models and prices
Common questions about Gemini 3.8 Flash pricing
- How much does Gemini 3.8 Flash cost?
- Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75 per 1M input tokens and $3.75 per 1M output tokens. That is the model maker's own rate (Google AI Studio). Prices as listed on 2026-10-22.
- Which host is cheapest for Gemini 3.8 Flash?
- The price we quote is already the cheapest of the 2 hosts: Google AI Studio at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per 1M tokens. All of them charge within 10% of one another. Host rates as listed on 2026-10-22.
- Does Gemini 3.8 Flash offer batch or cached pricing?
- Yes, both. Batch API pricing is $0.375 per 1M input tokens and $1.875 per 1M output tokens, and prompt-cache reads cost $0.075 per 1M tokens, as listed on 2026-10-22.
- What would Gemini 3.8 Flash cost per month?
- With the Support Ticket profile (1,500 input and 500 output tokens per request), 100,000 requests a month cost about $300 on Gemini 3.8 Flash at the list price quoted on 2026-10-22.
- Can Gemini 3.8 Flash be self-hosted?
- No, as far as this site records. Gemini 3.8 Flash is recorded here as proprietary: access is through an API, priced by the token.
- Has the price of Gemini 3.8 Flash changed?
- Gemini 3.8 Flash entered our daily price archive on 2026-09-03; tracking began on 2026-08-15. It listed at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per 1M tokens that day. No list price change since 2026-09-03. Last checked against the 2026-10-22 snapshot.
These are list prices. Your real cost also depends on caching and batching, negotiated discounts, marketplace agreements, and the contracts you already have. OptimNow audits exactly that.
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