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Claude Opus 4.6 vs Gemini 3 Flash

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 44.9 to 36.8. Gemini 3 Flash is 8.9x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · Google · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 44.9 to 36.8, ranking #34 overall.

In the 14 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude Opus 4.6 wins 10; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Gemini 3 Flash is roughly 8.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Opus 4.6

  • overall performance matters — it scores 44.9 and ranks #34 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 10 of 14 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

Choose Gemini 3 Flash

  • cost matters — it's about 8.9x cheaper per token

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Opus 4.6
Anthropic
Gemini 3 Flash
Google
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
44.9
#34
36.8
#73
Reasoning
45.4
#29
37.6
#65
Coding
32.8
#38
22.4
#80
Agents
28.0
#40
17.8
#72
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
10 of 14
4 of 14
Input price
$5.00 / M
$0.50 / M
Output price
$25.00 / M
$3.00 / M
Context window
1,000,000
1,000,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

4 shared
Index
Claude Opus 4.6
Gemini 3 Flash
Math
40.1#16
37.0#32
Vision
27.2#39
25.5#44
Tool use
24.1#38
15.9#86
Multimodal
23.4#56
27.2#40
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

27 reported for Claude Opus 4.6 · 24 for Gemini 3 Flash

14 shared

Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 10 benchmarks (AIME 2025, ARC-AGI v2, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, Legal Agent Benchmark, LiveBench, MCP Atlas, MRCR v2 (8-needle), SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0), while Gemini 3 Flash is better at 3 benchmarks (CharXiv-R, MMMLU, MMMU-Pro).

Claude Opus 4.6 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Sun Sep 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Gemini 3 Flash costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than Gemini 3 Flash ($0.50/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 8.3x more expensive than Gemini 3 Flash ($3.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.6 is more expensive than Gemini 3 Flash.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sun Sep 20 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Google
Gemini 3 Flash
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$3.00
Best providerGoogle
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Both models have the same input context window of 1,000,000 tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Gemini 3 Flash is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Google
Gemini 3 Flash
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Sun Sep 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3 Flash support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Opus 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemini 3 Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude Opus 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Gemini 3 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.6 was released on 2026-02-05, while Gemini 3 Flash was released on 2025-12-17.

Claude Opus 4.6 is 2 months newer than Gemini 3 Flash.

Claude Opus 4.6

Feb 5, 2026

7 months ago

1mo newer
Gemini 3 Flash

Dec 17, 2025

9 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 3 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while Claude Opus 4.6's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemini 3 Flash's training data extends to 2025-01-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude Opus 4.6's cutoff date.

Claude Opus 4.6

—

Gemini 3 Flash

Jan 2025

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4.6 is available from Anthropic. Gemini 3 Flash is available from Google.

Claude Opus 4.6

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M

Gemini 3 Flash

google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3 Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 4.6
✓ Preferred
Gemini 3 Flash
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs Gemini 3 Flash.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or Gemini 3 Flash?

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 44.9 to 36.8. Claude Opus 4.6 is made by Anthropic and Gemini 3 Flash is made by Google. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Claude Opus 4.6 compare to Gemini 3 Flash in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.6 scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.8%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Graphwalks parents >128k: 95.4%, Tau2 Retail: 91.9%. Gemini 3 Flash scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.7%, Global PIQA: 92.8%, MMMLU: 91.8%, GPQA: 90.4%.

Is Claude Opus 4.6 cheaper than Gemini 3 Flash?

Gemini 3 Flash is 10.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. Gemini 3 Flash costs $0.50/M input and $3.00/M output via google.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3 Flash?

Claude Opus 4.6 supports 1.0M tokens and Gemini 3 Flash supports 1.0M tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3 Flash?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (44.9 vs 36.8), input pricing ($5.00 vs $0.50/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3 Flash?

Claude Opus 4.6 is developed by Anthropic and Gemini 3 Flash is developed by Google.

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