Model Comparison

Gemini 3 Flash vs MAI-Thinking-1Which is better in 2026?

Gemini 3 Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemini 3 Flash vs MAI-Thinking-1 — which is better?

Gemini 3 Flash (by Google) and MAI-Thinking-1 (by Microsoft) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Gemini 3 Flash outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0), while MAI-Thinking-1 is better at 0 benchmarks. Gemini 3 Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Gemini 3 Flash if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks

Choose MAI-Thinking-1 if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Gemini 3 Flash outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0), while MAI-Thinking-1 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Gemini 3 Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Gemini 3 Flash specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only Gemini 3 Flash specifies output context (65,536 tokens).

Google
Gemini 3 Flash
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Microsoft
MAI-Thinking-1
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Gemini 3 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas MAI-Thinking-1 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

MAI-Thinking-1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Gemini 3 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

MAI-Thinking-1

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemini 3 Flash was released on 2025-12-17, while MAI-Thinking-1 was released on 2026-06-02.

MAI-Thinking-1 is 6 months newer than Gemini 3 Flash.

Gemini 3 Flash

Dec 17, 2025

7 months ago

MAI-Thinking-1

Jun 2, 2026

1 months ago

5mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 3 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while MAI-Thinking-1'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 MAI-Thinking-1's cutoff date.

Gemini 3 Flash

Jan 2025

MAI-Thinking-1

—

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google
Larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher AIME 2025 score (99.7% vs 97.0%)
Higher GPQA score (90.4% vs 84.2%)
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (78.0% vs 73.5%)
Higher Terminal-Bench 2.0 score (47.6% vs 46.0%)
Microsoft

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemini 3 Flash and MAI-Thinking-1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemini 3 Flash
✓ Preferred
MAI-Thinking-1
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemini 3 Flash
Microsoft
MAI-Thinking-1

FAQ

Common questions about Gemini 3 Flash vs MAI-Thinking-1.

Which is better, Gemini 3 Flash or MAI-Thinking-1?

Gemini 3 Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Gemini 3 Flash is made by Google and MAI-Thinking-1 is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemini 3 Flash compare to MAI-Thinking-1 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%. MAI-Thinking-1 scores LongFact: 98.0%, AIME 2025: 97.0%, AIME 2026: 94.5%, GraphWalks: 90.0%, AIR-Bench: 88.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemini 3 Flash and MAI-Thinking-1?

Gemini 3 Flash supports 1.0M tokens and MAI-Thinking-1 supports an unknown number of 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 MAI-Thinking-1?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemini 3 Flash and MAI-Thinking-1?

Gemini 3 Flash is developed by Google and MAI-Thinking-1 is developed by Microsoft.

Related comparisons