o4-mini vs Gemini 3.5 Flash
Side-by-side comparison across metrics, pricing, and overall score — every value traced to a source.
Verdict: Gemini 3.5 Flash ranks highest overall (#7) with a score of 33.1.
The best choice still depends on which metrics matter for your workload — per-metric winners are marked below.
What the numbers hide
Computed from the published values below — no estimates, no generated claims.
Fragile verdict
The overall winner flips to Gemini 3.5 Flash if Context Window is weighted at 45% (it counts for 25% today). If context window drives your decision, the ranking above may not be your ranking.
Fragile verdict
The overall winner flips to Gemini 3.5 Flash if Cache Read Price is weighted at 35% (it counts for 8% today). If cache read price drives your decision, the ranking above may not be your ranking.
Real tradeoff
o4-mini clearly beats Gemini 3.5 Flash on Input Price but clearly loses on Cache Read Price — this pair is a priorities question, not a quality question.
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| Metric | o4-miniOpenAI | Gemini 3.5 FlashGoogle |
|---|---|---|
| Overall OptiSift Score | 20.4#17 | 33.1#7 |
| Input Price | $1.1 | $1.5 |
| Output Price | $4.4 | $9 |
| Cache Read Price | $0.28 | $0.15 |
| Context Window | 200K | 1.0M |
| Max Output Tokens | 100K | 66K |
| Tool Calling | Yes | Yes |
| Extended Reasoning | Yes | Yes |