Particle-1 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
Particle-1 took 7 min 13 s and $0.056 at list price, Gemini 3.8 Flash took 8 min 33 s and $0.32 at list price. Gemini 3.8 Flash took 1.2× as long and cost 5.7× as much.
Particle-1
Particle AI · $0.50/M out · 17 HN pts
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Google · $4.13/M out · 1,293 HN pts
Pelican
Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle
Watch
Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.
Landing
Build the landing page for Lumen Cycles, a Copenhagen workshop that builds custom cargo bikes to order. Make it look like a real brand you would trust with 4,000 euros.
Breakout
Make a Breakout game I can play right now with the keyboard or the mouse. Give it several levels, a score and some juice.
Logo
Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.
About
Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.
Patchbay is a three-person studio in Rotterdam dedicated to the repair and restoration of vintage synthesizers. We are engineers, musicians, and collectors who believe these instruments are not museum pieces but tools meant to be played, heard, and trusted on stage or in the studio. Our bench has seen everything from stubborn Moogs and fragile ARP boards to polysynths with corroded traces and keyboards that have traveled too many miles. We approach each repair with patience, documentation, and respect for the original design, while making sensible updates only where reliability demands them. Because we are a small team, you work directly with the person handling your instrument, from the first diagnosis to the final calibration. We also advise on maintenance, source hard-to-find parts, and help you decide when a repair is worthwhile. Patchbay exists to keep old synthesizers making new music.
Tucked away in Rotterdam, Patchbay is a three-person repair studio dedicated to the preservation and revival of vintage synthesizers. We believe that classic instruments are living machines rather than museum relics—tools built to inspire, create, and be played loud. Between the three of us, we combine decades of experience in electronics engineering, sound design, and meticulous craftsmanship. Whether tracking down elusive voice chips for an eighties polyphonic giant, rebuilding power supplies, or recalibrating the drift on a cantankerous monophonic circuit from the seventies, we treat every piece of gear with obsessive attention to detail. Our workbench is built on a deep respect for historical engineering and a refusal to cut corners. For musicians, producers, and collectors across the Netherlands and beyond, Patchbay is where forgotten circuits find their current again, keeping the tactile soul of analog synthesis alive and resonant.
Specs and numbers
| Particle-1 | Gemini 3.8 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Particle AI | |
| Made in | — | US |
| Released | 28 Oct 2026 | 2 Sep 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $0.05 | $0.825 |
| Price out, per M tokens | $0.50 | $4.13 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | closed | closed |
| Hacker News points | 17 | 1,293 |
| Time for the six prompts | 7 min 13 s | 8 min 33 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.056 | $0.32 |
Particle-1 was cheaper: $0.27 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. Particle-1 was faster: 79 s less in total, and faster on 4 of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play.





