---
id: "2026-07-21-gemini-3-6-flash"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-21-gemini-3-6-flash/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-07-21"
date_precision: day
category: model-release
importance: 3
confidence: high
status: [Confirmed]
sources: 5
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-04"
---

As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-21-gemini-3-6-flash/

# Google releases Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite and 3.5 Flash Cyber

Full title: Google releases Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite and 3.5 Flash Cyber — but no 3.5 Pro

On 21 July 2026 Google shipped Gemini 3.6 Flash (17% fewer output tokens than 3.5 Flash, OSWorld-Verified 83.0%, knowledge cutoff March 2026), the cheap Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite ($0.30/$2.50) and a gated Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber. Google said Gemini 3.5 Pro was still "testing with partners" and that pre-training of Gemini 4 had begun.

## Key facts
- GA 2026-07-21: gemini-3.6-flash and gemini-3.5-flash-lite
- 3.6 Flash price: $1.50 input / $7.50 output per 1M tokens (3.5 Flash output was $9)
- 3.6 Flash: 17% fewer output tokens than 3.5 Flash (Artificial Analysis); DeepSWE 49% (vs 37%); MLE-Bench 63.9% (vs 49.7%); OSWorld-Verified 83.0% (vs 78.4%)
- 3.6 Flash knowledge cutoff moved to March 2026
- 3.5 Flash-Lite: $0.30 / $2.50 per 1M tokens; ~350 output tokens/s; Terminal-Bench 2.1 54% (vs 31% for 3.1 Flash-Lite); SWE-Bench Pro 54.2%
- 3.5 Flash Cyber: limited to governments and trusted partners via CodeMender pilot
- Same day the API deprecated temperature, top_p and top_k parameters
- Google: Gemini 3.5 Pro 'currently testing with partners'; 'most ambitious pre-training run yet, for Gemini 4' started

## What happened

Google DeepMind released three models on 21 July 2026: **Gemini 3.6 Flash** (new default workhorse, more token-efficient, better at coding, ML research and computer use), **Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite** (high-throughput, low-latency tier) and **Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber** (vulnerability detection/patching, limited-access pilot). The Gemini API simultaneously deprecated the classic sampling parameters `temperature`, `top_p` and `top_k`.

## Why it matters

The launch was widely read through what was missing: Gemini 3.5 Pro, promised at I/O for June, had not shipped (Bloomberg reported it struggled to meet internal performance goals). Google instead doubled down on Flash-tier models and publicly confirmed Gemini 4 pre-training had started.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 82 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 21 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): 112 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 51 days after its cutoff

## Sources

1. [Google blog: Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, 3.5 Flash Cyber](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-6-flash-3-5-flash-lite-3-5-flash-cyber/) (blog.google, official)
2. [Gemini 3.6 Flash model card](https://deepmind.google/models/model-cards/gemini-3-6-flash/) (deepmind.google, official)
3. [Gemini API release notes](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog) (ai.google.dev, docs)
4. [TechCrunch: Google releases three new Gemini models — but no 3.5 Pro](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/google-releases-three-new-gemini-models-but-no-3-5-pro/) (techcrunch.com, press)
5. [9to5Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash and 3.5 Flash-Lite launch, teases Gemini 4](https://9to5google.com/2026/07/21/gemini-3-6-flash-launch/) (9to5google.com, press)

## Changes

- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-09-02: [Google releases Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-02-gemini-3-8-flash/index.md)
- 2026-08-13: [Google releases Gemini 3.7 Flash at half the price of 3.6 Flash](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-08-13-gemini-3-7-flash/index.md)
- 2026-05-19: [Google I/O 2026: Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini Spark agent and Antigravity 2.0](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-05-19-gemini-3-5-flash-io-2026/index.md)