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Gemini 3 Flash vs LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

Gemini 3 Flash and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 are closely matched at 36.8 and 35.3 on the LLM Stats Score. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is 2.1x cheaper per token.

Google · Meituan · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Gemini 3 Flash and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 36.8 and 35.3.

In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Gemini 3 Flash wins 4; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is roughly 2.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Gemini 3 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Gemini 3 Flash

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 4 exact shared results
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window

Choose LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

  • cost matters — it's about 2.1x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Gemini 3 Flash
Google
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Meituan
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
36.8
#73
35.3
#86
Reasoning
37.6
#65
35.5
#81
Coding
22.4
#80
18.8
#109
Agents
17.8
#72
9.6
#121
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
4 of 4
0 of 4
Input price
$0.50 / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
$3.00 / M
$1.20 / M
Context window
1,000,000
128,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Gemini 3 Flash
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Math
37.0#32
30.5#74
Tool use
15.9#86
24.5#37
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

24 reported for Gemini 3 Flash · 11 for LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

4 shared

Gemini 3 Flash outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, SWE-Bench Verified), while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Gemini 3 Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Sep 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 costs less

For input processing, Gemini 3 Flash ($0.50/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Gemini 3 Flash ($3.00/1M tokens) is 2.5x more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 ($1.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Gemini 3 Flash is more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sun Sep 20 2026 • llm-stats.com
Google
Gemini 3 Flash
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$3.00
Best providerGoogle
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.20
Best providerMeituan
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Gemini 3 Flash accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601's 128,000 tokens. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Gemini 3 Flash is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Google
Gemini 3 Flash
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sun Sep 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Gemini 3 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 does not.

Gemini 3 Flash can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemini 3 Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemini 3 Flash is licensed under a proprietary license, while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 uses MIT.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Gemini 3 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemini 3 Flash was released on 2025-12-17, while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 was released on 2026-01-14.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is 1 month newer than Gemini 3 Flash.

Gemini 3 Flash

Dec 17, 2025

9 months ago

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

Jan 14, 2026

8 months ago

4w newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 3 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemini 3 Flash's training data extends to 2025-01-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601's cutoff date.

Gemini 3 Flash

Jan 2025

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

—

Provider Availability

Gemini 3 Flash is available from Google. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is available from Meituan.

Gemini 3 Flash

google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.00/1M

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

meituan logo
Meituan
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemini 3 Flash and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemini 3 Flash
✓ Preferred
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Gemini 3 Flash vs LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601.

Which is better, Gemini 3 Flash or LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

Gemini 3 Flash and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 36.8 and 35.3. Gemini 3 Flash is made by Google and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is made by Meituan. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Gemini 3 Flash compare to LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 in benchmarks?

Gemini 3 Flash scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.7%, Global PIQA: 92.8%, MMMLU: 91.8%, GPQA: 90.4%. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 scores AIME 2025: 99.6%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Tau2 Retail: 88.6%, LiveCodeBench: 82.8%, GPQA: 80.5%.

Is Gemini 3 Flash cheaper than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is 1.7x cheaper for input tokens. Gemini 3 Flash costs $0.50/M input and $3.00/M output via google. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 costs $0.30/M input and $1.20/M output via meituan.

What are the context window sizes for Gemini 3 Flash and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

Gemini 3 Flash supports 1.0M tokens and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemini 3 Flash and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (36.8 vs 35.3), context window (1.0M vs 128K), input pricing ($0.50 vs $0.30/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemini 3 Flash and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

Gemini 3 Flash is developed by Google and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is developed by Meituan.

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