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Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 58.3 to 10.4. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is 22.9x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · Google · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 58.3 to 10.4, ranking #2 overall.

On price, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is roughly 22.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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 Sonnet 5.5

  • overall performance matters — it scores 58.3 and ranks #2 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2026

Choose Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  • cost matters — it's about 22.9x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Sonnet 5.5
Anthropic
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Google
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
58.3
#2
10.4
#280
Reasoning
56.8
#2
10.9
#274
Coding
48.6
#2
-2.9
#266
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$2.00 / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
$10.00 / M
$0.40 / M
Context window
1,000,000
1,048,576

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Math
37.6#30
4.0#292
Vision
40.5#3
3.5#172
Multimodal
40.1#2
11.5#120
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

47 reported for Claude Sonnet 5.5 · 13 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

No common benchmarks found

Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Litedon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 20.0x more expensive than Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($10.00/1M tokens) is 25.0x more expensive than Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite ($0.40/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 5.5 is more expensive than Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Thu Oct 08 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Input tokens$2.00
Output tokens$10.00
Best providerAnthropic
Google
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerGoogle
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Claude Sonnet 5.5's 1,000,000 tokens. Claude Sonnet 5.5 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Google
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Thu Oct 08 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite support multimodal inputs.

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

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite uses Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 5.5 was released on 2026-09-28, while Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite was released on 2025-06-17.

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is 16 months newer than Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Sep 28, 2026

1 weeks ago

1.3yr newer
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Jun 17, 2025

1.3 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Claude Sonnet 5.5 has a knowledge cutoff of 2026-06-01, while Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has a cutoff of 2025-01-01.

Claude Sonnet 5.5 has more recent training data (up to 2026-06-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (2025-01-01).

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Jun 2026

1.4 yr newer
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

Jan 2025

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is available from Anthropic. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is available from Google.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $10.00/1M

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 5.5
✓ Preferred
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 58.3 to 10.4. Claude Sonnet 5.5 is made by Anthropic and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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 Sonnet 5.5 compare to Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores BenchCAD (with Python tool): 96.3%, ArXivMath (with tools): 95.2%, Global-MMLU: 92.1%, MILU: 91.6%, SWE-bench Multilingual: 90.3%. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite scores FACTS Grounding: 84.1%, Global-MMLU-Lite: 81.1%, MMMU: 72.9%, GPQA: 64.6%, Vibe-Eval: 51.3%.

Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 cheaper than Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is 20.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2.00/M input and $10.00/M output via anthropic. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output via google.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 supports 1.0M tokens and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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 Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (58.3 vs 10.4), context window (1.0M vs 1.0M), input pricing ($2.00 vs $0.10/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is developed by Anthropic and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is developed by Google.

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