Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Comparison

Comparing Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 2.5 Flash across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Claude Sonnet 4.6 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, SWE-Bench Verified), while Gemini 2.5 Flash is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Mar 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Gemini 2.5 Flash costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than Gemini 2.5 Flash ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 6.0x more expensive than Gemini 2.5 Flash ($2.50/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is more expensive than Gemini 2.5 Flash.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers

Tue Mar 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Input tokens$3.00

Output tokens$15.00

Best providerAnthropic

Gemini 2.5 Flash

Input tokens$0.30

Output tokens$2.50

Best providerGoogle

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Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Gemini 2.5 Flash accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 200,000 tokens. Gemini 2.5 Flash can generate longer responses up to 65,536 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 is limited to 64,000 tokens.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Input200,000 tokens

Output64,000 tokens

Gemini 2.5 Flash

Input1,048,576 tokens

Output65,536 tokens

Tue Mar 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 2.5 Flash support multimodal inputs.

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

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Text

Images

Audio

Video

Gemini 2.5 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 Sonnet 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Gemini 2.5 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released on 2026-02-17, while Gemini 2.5 Flash was released on 2025-05-20.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is 9 months newer than Gemini 2.5 Flash.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Feb 17, 2026

4 weeks ago

9mo newer

Gemini 2.5 Flash

May 20, 2025

10 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 2.5 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while Claude Sonnet 4.6's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemini 2.5 Flash's training data extends to 2025-01-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude Sonnet 4.6's cutoff date.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

—

Gemini 2.5 Flash

Jan 2025

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is available from Anthropic. Gemini 2.5 Flash is available from Google. The availability of providers can affect quality of the model and reliability.