Gemini 3.6 Flash (High) vs Solar Mini 4
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.6 Flash (High) by Google or Solar Mini 4 by Upstage? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 3.6 Flash (High) scores 9.9 points higher (34.0 vs 24.1) but costs 3.2× as much to run the benchmark ($1614 vs $502; both premium class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.6 Flash (High) when you need intelligence above 24.1, and Solar Mini 4 when 24.1 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.6 Flash (High) | Solar Mini 4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.0 | 24.1 | −29.1% Solar Mini 4 is 29.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,614.42 | $502.02 | −68.9% Solar Mini 4 is 68.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 17.59s | 27.46s | +56.1% Solar Mini 4 is 56.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.75 / $3.75 | $0.10 / $0.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Solar Mini 4 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash (High): 29.1% less intelligence, 68.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 56.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.6 Flash (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Solar Mini 4 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Gemini 3.6 Flash (High)Solar Mini 4Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-6-flash/solar-mini4 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-6-flash/solar-mini4?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill