Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Llama 4 Scout
Open-source vs closed — Llama 4 Scout is 88% cheaper on input tokens while Gemini offers 2x the context window. Budget battle of the year.
Pricing data verified: Jun 10, 2026
| Specification | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Llama 4 Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price (per 1M tokens) | $1.50 | $0.18 |
| Output Price (per 1M tokens) | $9.00 | $0.59 |
| Context Window | 1M tokens | 512K tokens |
| Tier | Mid | Budget |
| Provider | Meta (via Together.ai) | |
| Input Savings | Baseline | 88% cheaper |
| Output Savings | Baseline | 93% cheaper |
| Cost at 1M input + 500K output | $6.00 | $0.48 |
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Which Model for Which Use Case?
Ultra-Budget Workloads
Llama 4 Scout is 88-93% cheaper across the board — ideal for high-volume, cost-sensitive applications where every fraction of a cent matters. At $0.18/M input, it's one of the cheapest production-ready models available.
Long-Document Processing
Gemini 3.5 Flash's 1M context is 2x larger than Scout's 512K. For legal document analysis, book-length content, or large codebase processing, Gemini gives you significantly more room to work.
Multimodal Tasks
Gemini 3.5 Flash excels at processing images, video, and audio alongside text — a strength of Google's multimodal architecture. Llama 4 Scout is text-focused with strong reasoning capabilities.
Self-Hosting & Customization
Llama 4 Scout is open-source — you can self-host it on your own infrastructure for complete control over data, latency, and costs. Gemini 3.5 Flash is a managed API with Google's infrastructure guarantees.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Llama 4 Scout cheaper than Gemini 3.5 Flash?
Yes, significantly. Llama 4 Scout costs $0.18/M input and $0.59/M output via providers like Together.ai. Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.50/M input and $9.00/M output. Llama 4 Scout is 88% cheaper on input and 93% cheaper on output. For a typical workload of 1M input + 500K output tokens/month, Llama 4 Scout costs $0.48 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash's $6.00 — saving you $5.52/month (92%).
Which has a larger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Llama 4 Scout?
Gemini 3.5 Flash has a 1M token context window, which is 2x larger than Llama 4 Scout's 512K context. If you need to process very long documents or maintain large conversation histories, Gemini offers significantly more room. For most typical workloads under 512K tokens, both models are equally capable.
When should I choose Gemini 3.5 Flash over Llama 4 Scout?
Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash when: (1) you need a 1M token context window for long documents, (2) your use case involves multimodal tasks (images, video), (3) you're already in the Google Cloud ecosystem. Choose Llama 4 Scout when: (1) cost is the primary concern (88-93% cheaper), (2) you need a 512K context window which is sufficient, (3) you're comfortable with self-hosting or third-party providers like Together.ai.
Are Gemini 3.5 Flash and Llama 4 Scout good for production use?
Both are production-ready. Gemini 3.5 Flash is Google's mid-tier model strong at multimodal reasoning, code generation, and long-context tasks. Llama 4 Scout is Meta's latest open-source model, available via providers like Together.ai and Fireworks, offering excellent performance at a fraction of the cost. Both offer low latency suitable for real-time applications.