Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Gemini 1.5 Flash
Claude 3.5 Sonnet leads the LLM Stats Score 19.3 to 6.2. Gemini 1.5 Flash is 22.9x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · Google · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet leads the overall LLM Stats Score 19.3 to 6.2, ranking #193 overall.
In the 10 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude 3.5 Sonnet wins 10; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Gemini 1.5 Flash is roughly 22.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Gemini 1.5 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- overall performance matters — it scores 19.3 and ranks #193 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 10 of 10 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2024
Choose Gemini 1.5 Flash
- cost matters — it's about 22.9x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
19 reported for Claude 3.5 Sonnet · 22 for Gemini 1.5 Flash
Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 10 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MathVista, MGSM, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, MMMU), while Gemini 1.5 Flash is better at 0 benchmarks.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($3.00/1M tokens) is 20.0x more expensive than Gemini 1.5 Flash ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($15.00/1M tokens) is 25.0x more expensive than Gemini 1.5 Flash ($0.60/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3.5 Sonnet is more expensive than Gemini 1.5 Flash.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Gemini 1.5 Flash accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Claude 3.5 Sonnet's 200,000 tokens. Claude 3.5 Sonnet can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Gemini 1.5 Flash is limited to 8,192 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Gemini 1.5 Flash support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Gemini 1.5 Flash
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released on 2024-10-22, while Gemini 1.5 Flash was released on 2024-05-01.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is 6 months newer than Gemini 1.5 Flash.
Oct 22, 2024
1.9 years ago
5mo newerMay 1, 2024
2.3 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Gemini 1.5 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-11-01, while Claude 3.5 Sonnet's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Gemini 1.5 Flash's training data extends to 2023-11-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude 3.5 Sonnet's cutoff date.
—
Nov 2023
Provider Availability
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. Gemini 1.5 Flash is available from Google.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Gemini 1.5 Flash
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Gemini 1.5 Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Gemini 1.5 Flash.