Google launches Gemini 3.8 Flash: Smarter but costlier to run

It is a new language model from Google designed for complex tasks, performing longer reasoning steps and iterative tool calls to improve results.

Both have the same pricing, but 3.8 'works harder' with extra reasoning steps, potentially increasing token usage and thus effective cost.

Not necessarily; for simple tasks, 3.7 Flash remains cost-effective, while for complex reasoning tasks, 3.8 may be better.