Gemini 3 Flash Max vs Grok 3 Max: which model should you choose?
We compared Gemini 3 Flash Max and Grok 3 Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Grok 3 Max has the stronger average benchmark score; Gemini 3 Flash Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
Gemini 3 Flash Max
Gemini 3 Flash Max is a frontier model from Google DeepMind. It offers a 1,000,000-token context window, costs $17.43 per million input tokens and $63.42 per million output tokens, and averages 85.0 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $17.43 / 1M
- Output
- $63.42 / 1M
- Context
- 1,000,000
- Avg score
- 85.0
- Open weights
- No
Grok 3 Max
Grok 3 Max is a frontier model from xAI. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $17.66 per million input tokens and $89.12 per million output tokens, and averages 85.9 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $17.66 / 1M
- Output
- $89.12 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 85.9
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | Gemini 3 Flash Max | Grok 3 Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $17.43 | $17.66 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $63.42 | $89.12 | A |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 | B |
| Max output | 65,536 | 32,768 | A |
| Average score | 85.0 | 85.9 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1448.5 | 1475.8 | B |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
Gemini 3 Flash Max wins 4, Grok 3 Max wins 7, and 1 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Flash Max | Grok 3 Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 87.8 | 87.3 | 0.5 | Gemini 3 Flash Max |
| GPQA Diamond | 80.9 | 80.9 | 0.0 | Tie |
| SWE-bench Verified | 73.8 | 73.6 | 0.2 | Gemini 3 Flash Max |
| HumanEval | 88.5 | 91.9 | 3.4 | Grok 3 Max |
| MATH-500 | 88.6 | 91.9 | 3.3 | Grok 3 Max |
| AIME 2025 | 86.7 | 86.6 | 0.1 | Gemini 3 Flash Max |
| LiveCodeBench | 78.3 | 79.7 | 1.4 | Grok 3 Max |
| IFEval | 91.3 | 92.6 | 1.3 | Grok 3 Max |
| TruthfulQA | 87.1 | 86.7 | 0.4 | Gemini 3 Flash Max |
| HellaSwag | 91.1 | 91.8 | 0.7 | Grok 3 Max |
| MMMU | 81.0 | 82.3 | 1.3 | Grok 3 Max |
| Arena Elo | 1448.5 | 1475.8 | 27.3 | Grok 3 Max |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, Gemini 3 Flash Max costs about $28.93 per million tokens and Grok 3 Max costs about $35.53. Gemini 3 Flash Max is roughly 19% cheaper than Grok 3 Max. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Grok 3 Max has the larger context window at 2,000,000 tokens, compared with 1,000,000 for Gemini 3 Flash Max. That matters for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, Gemini 3 Flash Max wins 4, Grok 3 Max wins 7, and 1 are tied. On the index average, Grok 3 Max leads Gemini 3 Flash Max by 0.9 points (85.9 versus 85.0).
The price picture favours Gemini 3 Flash Max. The context picture favours Grok 3 Max. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 Max for quality-sensitive work and Gemini 3 Flash Max for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose Gemini 3 Flash Max if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 65,536-token output limit.
Choose Grok 3 Max if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- You need the larger 2,000,000-token context window.
FAQ
Is Gemini 3 Flash Max better than Grok 3 Max?
On the index average, Grok 3 Max leads Gemini 3 Flash Max by 0.9 points (85.9 versus 85.0). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. Gemini 3 Flash Max wins 4 benchmarks, Grok 3 Max wins 7.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash Max or Grok 3 Max?
Gemini 3 Flash Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $28.93 per million tokens, versus $35.53 for Grok 3 Max.
Which has the larger context window?
Grok 3 Max has the larger context window at 2,000,000 tokens. Gemini 3 Flash Max has 1,000,000 tokens.
Are these models open weights?
Gemini 3 Flash Max is proprietary; Grok 3 Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 Max for quality-sensitive work and Gemini 3 Flash Max for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.