API cost decision in 10 seconds

New🔥Gemini 3.5 Flash vs NewPerceptron Mk1

Pick Perceptron Mk1 for lower cost; pick Gemini 3.5 Flash only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T12:03:47Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T12:38:15Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Perceptron Mk1 for lower cost; pick Gemini 3.5 Flash only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Perceptron Mk1 is estimated at $0.9 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $5.1 (85% lower).

Cost-first pickPerceptron Mk1

Context-first pickGemini 3.5 Flash

Sample savings$5.185%

10x traffic gap$51

Gemini 3.5 Flash has more context, but Perceptron Mk1 saves $5.1 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $51. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Perceptron Mk1 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Gemini 3.5 Flash	Perceptron Mk1
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Perceptron Mk1	$12	$1.5
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Perceptron Mk1	$10.5	$1.65
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Perceptron Mk1	$46.5	$7.65

Cheaper input Perceptron Mk1 $1.5 vs $0.15 / 1M

Perceptron Mk1 is $1.35 cheaper per 1M input tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).

Cheaper output Perceptron Mk1 $9 vs $1.5 / 1M

Perceptron Mk1 is $7.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (83.3% lower; 6x difference).

Larger context Gemini 3.5 Flash 1.05M vs 32.77K

Gemini 3.5 Flash has 1.02M more context (32x larger).

Sample workload Perceptron Mk1 $6 vs $0.9

Perceptron Mk1 is $5.1 cheaper on the standard workload (85% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Gemini 3.5 Flash Calculating… Estimated API cost

Perceptron Mk1 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Perceptron Mk1 has the lower input price; Perceptron Mk1 has the lower output price; Gemini 3.5 Flash offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Perceptron Mk1 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash and $0.9 for Perceptron Mk1.

Best Fit

Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Perceptron Mk1 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Perceptron Mk1 is estimated at $0.9 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $5.1 (85% lower).
Perceptron Mk1 is $5.1 cheaper on the standard workload (85% lower).
Perceptron Mk1 is $1.35 cheaper per 1M input tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).
Perceptron Mk1 is $7.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (83.3% lower; 6x difference).
Gemini 3.5 Flash has 1.02M more context (32x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	New🔥Gemini 3.5 Flash (Google)	NewPerceptron Mk1 (Perceptron)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$1.5	$0.15
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$9	$1.5
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$6	$0.9
Context Window	1.05M	32.77K
Release Date	2026-05-19	2026-05-12
Popularity	#11

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Perceptron Mk1	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Perceptron Mk1 is estimated at $0.9 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $5.1 (85% lower).
High-volume input processing	Perceptron Mk1	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Perceptron Mk1	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Gemini 3.5 Flash	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Gemini 3.5 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Gemini 3.5 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Gemini 3.5 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Gemini 3.5 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

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Google catalog

Review all tracked Google models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

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Perceptron catalog

Check other Perceptron models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open Perceptron models

Gemini 3.5 Flash

Gemini 3.5 Flash is Google's high-efficiency multimodal model, bringing near-Pro level coding and reasoning at Flash-tier cost and speed. It is highly optimized for coding proficiency and parallel agentic execution...

Perceptron Mk1

Perceptron Mk1 (Mark One) is Perceptron's highest-quality vision-language model for video and embodied reasoning.** It accepts image and video inputs paired with natural language queries, and produces detailed visual understanding...