Claude Sonnet 4.6vsGemini 3.5 Flash
Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemini 3.5 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| API pricingUSD per 1M tokens · lower wins | ||
Input priceWhat you pay for everything you send the model — your question, plus any documents or earlier conversation you include with it. | $3.00 | $1.50 |
Output priceWhat you pay for the text the model writes back. It is normally the dearer half: producing an answer costs more than reading one. | $15.00 | $9.00 |
Cached input priceA reduced rate for text you send over and over. If every request starts with the same instructions or the same document, the provider keeps a copy ready and charges less to read it again. | $0.30 | $0.15 |
| Benchmarks | ||
BullshitBench v2Nonsense detection — Given a confidently-worded but nonsensical prompt, does the AI spot that it makes no sense and push back — instead of playing along and inventing an answer? The score is how often it clearly called out the nonsense. Higher is better. | 91% | 20% |
CursorBench v3.1Agentic coding — Cursor's own test of harder, real-world coding tasks inside a code editor. Higher is better. | 49% | 49.8% |
DeepSWE 1.1Agentic coding — Artificial Analysis' independent test of deep, agentic software-engineering work — the AI has to plan and carry out substantial coding tasks end to end. (Version 1.1 of the test.) Higher is better. | 30% | 37% |
MCP AtlasMulti-step tool use — Can the AI chain together many tools and steps to complete one bigger task, rather than doing just a single thing? Higher is better. | 69.5% | 83.6% |
BU BenchBrowser agent — Can the AI drive a real web browser to finish tasks — clicking, filling forms, and navigating sites the way a person would? Run by Browser Use on their BU Bench task set. Higher is better. | 62% | 58% |
Humanity's Last Exam · no toolsMultidisciplinary reasoning — Humanity's Last Exam — extremely hard expert questions across many subjects, written so you can't just look up the answer. “No tools” means the AI answers on its own. Higher is better. | 33.2% | 40.2% |
ARC-AGI-2Abstract reasoning — Puzzle-style tests of abstract reasoning and pattern-finding — the kind of thing people find easy but AIs often struggle with. Higher is better. | 58.3% | 72.1% |
OSWorld-VerifiedAgentic computer use — Can the AI actually operate a computer — clicking, typing, and using real apps — to finish tasks on its own? Higher is better. | 72.5% | 78.4% |
Finance Agent v2Agentic financial analysis — Tests the AI on real financial-analysis work, like digging through reports and making sound decisions. Higher is better. | 51% | 57.9% |
GDPval-AAKnowledge work — Measures how well the AI does economically valuable knowledge work, judged against human experts. Shown as a rating (like a chess Elo) — higher is better. | 1676 | 1656 |
CharXiv ReasoningChart reasoning — Can the AI read and reason about complex charts and figures, not just text? Higher is better. | 72.4% | 84.2% |
MMMU-ProMultimodal reasoning — A tougher version of MMMU — college-level questions that mix images, diagrams, and text together. Higher is better. | 74.5% | 83.6% |
Blueprint-Bench 2Spatial reasoning — Can the AI reason about space and layout — for example, understanding a floor plan or blueprint? Higher is better. | 6.7% | 33.6% |
MRCR v2 (8-needle) · 128k averageLong context — Tests whether the AI can find specific details buried inside a very long document (around 128k tokens — roughly a long book). Higher is better. | 84.9% | 77.3% |
Arena Elo (Text)Community preference — Real people chat with two anonymous AIs side by side and vote for the answer they prefer. Votes become a chess-style Elo rating on arena.ai — it measures which AI people actually like, not test scores. Higher is better. | 1472 | 1476 |
Arena Elo (Code)Community preference (code) — Like the text arena, but people vote on which AI writes better code. The votes become a chess-style Elo rating on arena.ai. Higher is better. | 1521 | 1499 |
| BenchmarksPublished by one model only | ||
Gray Swan IPI · k = 1Prompt injection robustness — Attackers hide malicious instructions inside content the AI reads — a web page, an email, a document — and try to hijack what it does. Gray Swan's indirect prompt injection benchmark measures how often such an attack succeeds when the attacker gets a single try. Lower is better. | — | 14.1% |
Gray Swan IPI · k = 10Prompt injection robustness — Attackers hide malicious instructions inside content the AI reads — a web page, an email, a document — and try to hijack what it does. This variant gives the attacker 10 tries and counts an attack as successful if any of them works. Lower is better. | — | 54.2% |
Gray Swan IPI · k = 15Prompt injection robustness — Attackers hide malicious instructions inside content the AI reads — a web page, an email, a document — and try to hijack what it does. This variant gives the attacker 15 tries and counts an attack as successful if any of them works. Lower is better. | — | 60.5% |
SWE-Bench ProAgentic coding — Can the AI fix real bugs in real software? It's handed actual problems from open-source projects and has to write code that genuinely solves them. Higher is better. | — | 55.1% |
SWE-Bench VerifiedCoding — Real coding tasks pulled from open-source projects — the AI has to find and fix actual bugs. A human-checked version of the original SWE-Bench. Higher is better. | 79.6% | — |
CursorBench v3.2Agentic coding — Cursor's own test of harder, real-world coding tasks inside a code editor, on the refreshed v3.2 task set. Scores aren't comparable with v3.1. Higher is better. | — | 48.8% |
MLE-BenchML engineering — Can the AI do the work of a machine-learning engineer? It competes in real Kaggle competitions — building, training, and tuning models end to end — and the score reflects how well it places. Higher is better. | — | 49.7% |
Next.js EvalsNext.js coding — Vercel's open eval of how well AI coding agents build and migrate real Next.js apps — measured as the share of tasks the agent completes successfully. Higher is better. | 58% | — |
Terminal-Bench 2.1Agentic terminal coding — Can the AI work in a command-line terminal — running commands and finishing technical setup tasks the way a developer would? Higher is better. | — | 76.2% |
ToolathlonGeneral tool use — Tests how well the AI uses everyday real-world tools and apps to get things done. Higher is better. | — | 56.5% |
GPQA DiamondScience — Graduate-level science questions in biology, physics, and chemistry — hard enough that subject-matter PhDs score around 65%. Higher is better. | 89.9% | — |
GDPval-AA v2Knowledge work — economically valuable knowledge work (v2, re-based Elo) | — | 1349 |
MRCR v2 (8-needle) · 1M pointwiseLong context — Tests whether the AI can find specific details buried inside an enormous document (around 1 million tokens — many books). Higher is better. | — | 26.6% |
| Overview | ||
| Company | Anthropic | |
| Release date | Feb 17 2026 | May 19 2026 |
| Access | Proprietary | Proprietary |
Which is better: Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemini 3.5 Flash?
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads Claude Sonnet 4.6 on 11 of the 16 benchmarks they both report. Gemini 3.5 Flash is cheaper on both input and output: $1.50 vs $3.00 per million input tokens, and $9.00 vs $15.00 per million output tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.6 shipped 91 days before Gemini 3.5 Flash, so benchmark comparisons should account for the intervening progress.
Published specifications for these two models are limited — see each model page for the latest details.
On BullshitBench v2, Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads at 91% vs Gemini 3.5 Flash at 20%. On CursorBench v3.1, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 49.8% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 49%. On DeepSWE 1.1, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 37% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 30%. On MCP Atlas, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 83.6% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 69.5%. On BU Bench, Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads at 62% vs Gemini 3.5 Flash at 58%. On Humanity's Last Exam · no tools, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 40.2% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 33.2%. On ARC-AGI-2, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 72.1% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 58.3%. On OSWorld-Verified, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 78.4% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 72.5%. On Finance Agent v2, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 57.9% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 51%. On GDPval-AA, Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads at 1676 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash at 1656. On CharXiv Reasoning, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 84.2% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 72.4%. On MMMU-Pro, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 83.6% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 74.5%. On Blueprint-Bench 2, Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 33.6% vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 6.7%. On MRCR v2 (8-needle) · 128k average, Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads at 84.9% vs Gemini 3.5 Flash at 77.3%. On Arena Elo (Text), Gemini 3.5 Flash leads at 1476 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 1472. On Arena Elo (Code), Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads at 1521 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash at 1499.
Frequently asked questions
Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released by Anthropic on Feb 17 2026.
Gemini 3.5 Flash was released by Google on May 19 2026.
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads on CursorBench v3.1 — Claude Sonnet 4.6 49% vs Gemini 3.5 Flash 49.8%.
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads on Humanity's Last Exam · no tools — Claude Sonnet 4.6 33.2% vs Gemini 3.5 Flash 40.2%.
Gemini 3.5 Flash is cheaper on both input and output: $1.50 vs $3.00 per million input tokens, and $9.00 vs $15.00 per million output tokens. Rates are pay-as-you-go API prices verified on August 18, 2026.