The Gemini 3 experience just got another big upgrade. Following in the trend of AI models offering different speed options for their tools, Gemini 3 Flash has now arrived. As the name suggests, it's a speedier alternative to Gemini 3.
Compared to the regular Gemini 3 experience, Flash takes less time to consider your query and, therefore, can produce an answer more rapidly. This makes it perfect for simple tasks, where deep consideration isn’t actually necessary.
However, where in the past these kinds of models would sacrifice ability for speed, Gemini seems to have landed on a middle ground. Flash is fast, but it's still nailing benchmarks and knocking out great answers. So, has Gemini cracked the system here, and how does this compare to the regular Gemini 3 model? Let's dive in.
What is Gemini 3 Flash?
Gemini 3 Flash joins the rest of Google’s AI family. That now means there are three ways to use the tool — Flash, Gemini 3 Pro and Gemini Deep Think. However, Flash has now become the default version of Gemini, powering the entire system. This makes the Gemini chatbot faster and a lot more efficient.
More importantly, Gemini 3 Flash will be available to absolutely everyone, including free users around the world.
As mentioned above, traditionally, AI models had to make a trade-off: speed or power? This is why the likes of ChatGPT or Claude offer multiple versions of their models, allowing users to pick the version that best fits their needs.
In theory, Flash is a workhorse, capable of dealing with all tasks, attempting to balance fast responses with considered thought and performance.
It is much cheaper to run than previous versions of Gemini, but, according to Google, it operates at triple the speed of Gemini 2.5 Pro.
Despite its speed and affordability, Gemini 3 Flash has already been shown to perform highly on most major benchmark tests, falling just a few percent behind Gemini’s other models and the major competitive models.
While it will take personal testing to see how evident this is, currently Gemini seems to have achieved what every AI company has been trying to do for years — create an AI tool that is fast, affordable and incredibly effective at all challenges.
Judging from the testing that has occurred so far, Gemini 3 Flash is an all-rounder, performing well in vibe coding, writing, multi-step reasoning and more.
What is the difference between Gemini 3 Pro, Thinking and Gemini 3 Flash?
So if Gemini 3 Flash is so good in all areas, does Google really need any other models? Not really, no. And yet, Google continues to offer two even more powerful versions in the Gemini 3 repertoire.
For paying users, there is Gemini 3 Pro. While Flash will be capable for the vast majority of tasks, Pro is designed for the absolute ceiling of challenging tasks.
If you have tasks that involve advanced scientific, mathematical, or medical research, Pro will become the superior choice. It leads a lot of key benchmarking tests, and remains one of the smartest AI models out there.
Flash is like that friend who is naturally gifted, able to excel in every sport and seemingly knows everything. Pro is more like an Olympian — highly focused, trained to perfection and ready to give maximum effort on any task.
On top of Gemini 3 Pro, there is Google’s Deep Think mode. This allows the model to explore multiple reasoning paths before answering your question. In theory, this is the absolute maximum output Google can give.
Gemini 3 Deep Think is Google’s highest performing version, but its use cases will be slim. Unless you’re using AI for the most advanced mathematical queries or operating within a niche industry that requires a powerful consideration of topics, Flash will be more than capable of handling your tasks.
Gemini 3 Pro vs Flash: Price differences
The great news here is that Gemini 3 Flash is completely free for anybody to use. You don’t even need to be signed into Gemini to use it. This is now the default version of the Gemini AI chatbot.
Gemini 3 Pro however is only available by paying for a Google AI plan. These start at $18.99 a month for Google AI Pro, or go up to a hefty $234.99 a month for Google AI Ultra.
At a time when AI companies are cutting back on the amount of features they give to free users, this is a welcome change.
How does Gemini 3 Flash compare to the competition?
From the initial benchmarking that has taken place, Gemini 3 Flash is performing surprisingly well, both against other Gemini models, and the competition, including both Claude Sonnet 4.5, GPT-5.2 and Grok 4.1.
In fact, Gemini 3 Flash seems to be scoring in similar numbers to these powerful models. While it rarely scored higher, it is, in most cases, only slightly below them.
It might sound strange to celebrate something that is almost as good as the competition, but it is important to remember that Flash is now Google’s base version. Despite this, it is falling only slightly behind some of the most powerful models in the world.
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