Head-to-head · published results only

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Muse Spark 1.2 on finance benchmarks

The two runners-up on Finance Agent v2 swap places when grading gets strict: Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on partial credit, Muse Spark 1.2 leads on All-Pass. Muse Spark costs less per test; Gemini is much stronger on Excel modeling.

Same benchmarks, same harness, as published by Vals AI Context: FAB v2: n=450 test questions, 3 runs · Oct 12, 2026 leaderboard · Vals AI · ± SEM Context: EMB: n=51 test tasks · Oct 12, 2026 leaderboard · Vals AI · ± as published, type not stated Context: Tax Agent: n=193 test questions · Oct 12, 2026 leaderboard · Vals AI · ± as published, type not stated
Measure	Gemini 3.8 Flash	Muse Spark 1.2	Gap	Read
Finance Agent v2	61.44% ±0.13	60.60% ±0.28	0.84 pts	Gemini 3.8 Flash ahead
Excel Modeling Benchmark	72.20% ±2.42	56.98% ±3.13	15.22 pts	Gemini 3.8 Flash ahead
Tax Agent Bench	32.12% ±3.37	32.80% ±2.75	0.68 pts	Within published margins
FAB v2 cost / time per task	$2.00 / 3m21s	$0.77 / 5m04s
API price per 1M tokens (in / out)	$1.50 / $7.50	$1.25 / $4.25

How to read this

"Within published margins" means the gap is smaller than the two published margins added together, so the order is not settled.
Both models ran in the same Vals AI harness with the same tools; your own prompts and tools may give different results.
These are research and modeling tests graded by AI judges, not trading results.

Limits that apply to each model

Gemini 3.8 Flash

Strong on analyst research and Excel modeling, much weaker on corporate tax research (18th of 69 on Tax Agent Bench).
Same-family judge caveat as other Google models: Gemini 3.1 Pro sits on the Finance Agent v2 jury.

Muse Spark 1.2

Excel modeling is a weak spot: 42nd of 74 on the Excel Modeling Benchmark.
Its financial modeling category lead on Finance Agent v2 is 34.5% Context: n: not disclosed per category · Oct 12, 2026 leaderboard · Vals AI · margin: not disclosed, which means most modeling answers still miss.

Primary sources

Verified
Gemini 3.8 Flash model page (Vals AI)Checked October 14, 2026.
Verified
Muse Spark 1.2 model page (Vals AI)Checked October 14, 2026.
Verified
Finance Agent v2 (Vals AI)Checked October 14, 2026.
Verified
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)Checked October 14, 2026.
Verified
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)Checked October 14, 2026.

Last verified: Oct 14, 2026. Prices and scores change; check the primary source before relying on them. We have no affiliate links and receive nothing from the companies listed. Every percentage carries its sample size, period and source (no naked percentages).

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