Google’s Gemini lineup now spans four active models, three model generations, and a pricing range from $0.10 to $12.00 per million output tokens. That’s more than a 100x difference between the cheapest and most capable options, which means the choice matters.

This guide covers every current Gemini model, what each one is built for, and where Gemini genuinely pulls ahead of competitors. It ends with a decision table so you can match your use case to the right model without reading the full spec sheet.

Where Gemini Stands Out in 2026

Gemini is not the only multimodal AI family on the market. GPT-5, Claude 4.x, and others all process text, images, audio, and video. What actually differentiates Gemini is more specific:

Current Gemini Models

Released February 19, 2026, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is Google’s current flagship model and the most capable model in the Gemini lineup. The “.1” increment signals a focused intelligence upgrade over Gemini 3 Pro rather than a full architectural rebuild: the same multimodal foundation with substantially stronger reasoning.

The reasoning improvement is significant. Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview scored 77.1% on ARC-AGI-2, more than double the 31.1% posted by its predecessor Gemini 3 Pro just three months earlier. It also achieved 94.3% on GPQA Diamond (graduate-level science) and 80.6% on SWE-Bench Verified (real-world software engineering). These are benchmark-leading scores across all publicly available models as of this writing.

The model includes an adjustable reasoning system with Low, Medium, and High thinking levels, letting you trade response speed for reasoning depth depending on the task.

Gemini 2.5 Pro

Gemini 2.5 Pro is Google’s primary production-ready model for complex tasks. Released May 2025, it predates the 3.1 Pro Preview but remains widely used for its strong balance of capability, context length, and cost. At $1.25/1M input tokens, it’s meaningfully cheaper than 3.1 Pro Preview while still supporting 1M token context windows and integrated thinking mode.

The main trade-off versus 3.1 Pro Preview is reasoning benchmark performance. For document analysis, coding, and detailed Q&A, the gap is marginal. For cutting-edge research or benchmark-sensitive tasks, 3.1 Pro Preview is the upgrade.

Gemini 2.5 Flash

Gemini 2.5 Flash is Google’s best value model for high-volume use cases. Released June 2025, it balances speed and quality well: at $0.30/1M input tokens, it costs less than a quarter of Gemini 2.5 Pro while still supporting a 1M context window, thinking mode, and Grounding.

The speed improvement over 2.5 Pro is real. At around 201 tokens per second versus Pro’s 148, Flash is noticeably faster for applications where latency matters. For most content generation, summarization, classification, and chatbot tasks, Flash delivers results close to Pro quality at a fraction of the cost.

Gemini 2.0 Flash

Gemini 2.0 Flash is Google’s most affordable model still in active service. At $0.10/1M input tokens, it is the lowest-cost Gemini option for teams running very high volumes at tight budgets. The trade-off is capability and output length: the model uses an older architecture and is capped at 8K tokens of output per response, limiting its usefulness for longer-form generation.

For new projects, Gemini 2.5 Flash is the recommended alternative. Gemini 2.0 Flash remains relevant for legacy integrations or extreme-volume scenarios where the per-token cost difference is the deciding factor.

Thinking Mode and Grounding: Features, Not Separate Models

Two capabilities often show up as separate entries when comparing Gemini options. They are not distinct models.

Thinking Mode: Integrated into Gemini 2.5 Flash, 2.5 Pro, and 3.1 Pro Preview, thinking mode enables the model to reason through problems step by step before generating a response. In Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, this is adjustable (Low, Medium, High) to trade speed for depth. It is not a separate model to select; it is enabled within the model you are already using.

Grounding: Also built into current Gemini models, Grounding links model responses to live Google Search results. This reduces hallucinations on time-sensitive topics and provides cited sources alongside the answer. It is particularly useful when recency of information matters. Enable it via the API or Google AI Studio without switching models.

Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Gemini 2.5 Flash: Which Should You Use?

These are the two most commonly compared models in the Gemini family. They share the same context window, the same knowledge cutoff, and both support thinking mode and Grounding. The difference comes down to cost, speed, and reasoning depth.

Bottom line: For most teams, Gemini 2.5 Flash is the right starting point. It handles the majority of content, summarization, coding, and Q&A tasks at 24% of the cost. Move to Gemini 2.5 Pro when task complexity requires deeper reasoning, or to Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when you need the strongest reasoning available at any price.

Gemini Models Comparison Table

All current Gemini models at a glance. Pricing is per 1 million tokens via the Google AI Studio API.

Speed figures are approximate median throughput from benchmark data. Pricing verified from Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, March 27, 2026. Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview input/output costs double above 200K tokens in a single context.

Which Gemini Model Should You Use?

Use this table to match your task to the right model. If you’re not sure where to start, Gemini 2.5 Flash handles the majority of workloads at a strong price-to-quality ratio.

Speed figures are approximate median throughput from benchmark data. Pricing verified from Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, March 27, 2026. Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview input/output costs double above 200K tokens in a single context.

Legacy and Discontinued Gemini Models

These models are no longer the recommended choice for new projects. They are listed here for teams managing existing integrations or tracking the Gemini lineage.