AI model comparison
Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
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.
- Input / 1M
- $1.50
- Output / 1M
- $9
- Context
- 1.05M
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Sonnet 4.6 is Anthropic's most capable Sonnet-class model yet, with frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work.
- Input / 1M
- $3
- Output / 1M
- $15
- Context
- 1M
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Gemini 3.5 Flash
1.8x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Gemini 3.5 Flash
33.6 vs 30.1 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Gemini 3.5 Flash
1.05M vs 1M tokens
Newer release
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Released May 19, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Gemini 3.5 Flash33.6Claude Sonnet 4.630.1Coding index
Gemini 3.5 FlashNot availableClaude Sonnet 4.663Agentic index
Gemini 3.5 FlashNot availableClaude Sonnet 4.631.8Pricing
Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $1.50 | $3 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $9 | $15 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.15 | $0.30 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | $0.08 | $3.75 |
| Web searchPer request | $0.014 | $0.01 |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Gemini 3.5 Flash$7.50Claude Sonnet 4.6$13.50Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Gemini 3.5 Flash$81$40.50 cachedClaude Sonnet 4.6$150$69 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Gemini 3.5 Flash$243$40.50 cachedClaude Sonnet 4.6$480$75 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1.05M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Max output | 66K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Input types | Audio, File, Image, Text, Video | File, Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | High, Medium, Low, Minimal | Max, High, Medium, Low |
| Default reasoning effort | Medium | Medium |
| Release date | May 19, 2026 | February 17, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Not supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Gemini 3.5 FlashView full model details- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 5
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Gemini 3.6 Flash
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs GLM 5.2
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Qwen3.8 27B
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Muse Spark 1.1
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs GPT-5.3-Codex
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Claude Opus 4.6
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs GPT-5.2
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
Claude Sonnet 4.6View full model details- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GLM 5.2
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.3-Codex
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.6
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.2
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen3.7 Max
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.2-Codex
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.1
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4
Our take
Gemini 3.5 Flash is 1.8x cheaper for a typical chat. Gemini 3.5 Flash scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (33.6 vs 30.1). Gemini 3.5 Flash has the larger context window (1.05M vs 1M tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash or Claude Sonnet 4.6 cheaper?
Gemini 3.5 Flash is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $9 per 1M output tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3 per 1M input tokens and $15 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Gemini 3.5 Flash supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 1M for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash smarter than Claude Sonnet 4.6?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Gemini 3.5 Flash scores 33.6 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 30.1, putting Gemini 3.5 Flash ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Gemini 3.5 Flash and Claude Sonnet 4.6 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Gemini 3.5 Flash and Claude Sonnet 4.6 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Gemini 3.5 Flash and Claude Sonnet 4.6 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.