text model comparison
Claude Opus 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen
Claude Opus 5.5 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen are both current text models, from Anthropic and Google. Gemini 4 Hydrogen is 63% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Claude Opus 5.5, $1.50 vs $4. On Arena Text, Claude Opus 5.5 scores 1507 Elo and Gemini 4 Hydrogen 1490 Elo (Arena, measured November 11, 2026). Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,000,000 and 1,048,576).
- Higher Arena Text
- Claude Opus 5.51507 Elo against 1490 Elo
- Lower price per 1M input tokens
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen$1.50 against $4
- Longer context window
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen1.05M tokens against 1M tokens
- Newer release
- Gemini 4 HydrogenNov 2026 against Sep 2026
Data verified November 15, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-15
Side by side
Claude Opus 5.5 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Claude Opus 5.5 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $4 | $1.50 (better) |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $20 | $7.50 (better) |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | 1507 Elo (#4 of 50) (better) | 1490 Elo (#7 of 50) |
| Arena WebDev | 1815 Elo (#2 of 45) (better) | 1704 Elo (#7 of 45) |
| GPQA Diamond | 90.6% (#26 of 40) | Not measured |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 91.2% (#4 of 39) | Not measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 72.2% (#7 of 36) | Not measured |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| Release date | September 22, 2026 | November 12, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API only |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Input | text, image | text, image, audio, video |
| Output | text | text |
Charts
Against every current text model
Where Claude Opus 5.5 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
On Arena Text, Claude Opus 5.5 ranks #4 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen #7 of 50 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
Claude Opus 5.5:#4of 50
1,507 Elo · ahead of 94%
Gemini 4 Hydrogen:#7of 50
1,490 Elo · ahead of 88%
Arena WebDev
Claude Opus 5.5:#2of 45
1,815 Elo · ahead of 98%
Gemini 4 Hydrogen:#7of 45
1,704 Elo · ahead of 86%
GPQA Diamond
Claude Opus 5.5:#26of 40
90.6% · ahead of 36%
Gemini 4 Hydrogen: Not scored
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
Claude Opus 5.5:#4of 39
91.2% · ahead of 92%
Gemini 4 Hydrogen: Not scored
SimpleQA Verified
Claude Opus 5.5:#7of 36
72.2% · ahead of 83%
Gemini 4 Hydrogen: Not scored
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
Claude Opus 5.5:#48of 58
$4 · cheaper than 14%
Gemini 4 Hydrogen:#32of 58
$1.50 · cheaper than 44%
Price per 1M output tokens
Claude Opus 5.5:#48of 58
$20 · cheaper than 14%
Gemini 4 Hydrogen:#36of 58
$7.50 · cheaper than 37%
Context window
Claude Opus 5.5:#31of 68
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Gemini 4 Hydrogen:#12of 68
1.05M tokens · longer than 61%
Quality against price
Claude Opus 5.5 scores 1,507 at $8; Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 1,490 at $3 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.
Quality against price: the data
| Model | Provider | Blended price per 1M tokens | Arena Text (Elo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Carbon | $4 | 1,526 | |
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,522 | |
| Muse Wonder | Meta | $8 | 1,511 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,507 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,497 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,497 |
| Gemini 4 Hydrogen | $3 | 1,490 | |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,487 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| Kimi K3.1 Pro | Moonshot Kimi | $4 | 1,485 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,484 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,483 | |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,482 |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,481 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,475 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,475 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,474 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,473 |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,468 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,466 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,464 |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,457 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,457 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,455 | |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,453 |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | $1.43 | 1,449 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,448 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,443 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,441 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | $0.20 | 1,421 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $1.05 | 1,420 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Inkling 2 Small | Thinking Machines Lab | $0.47 | 1,412 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,387 |
| GPT-4.1 mini | OpenAI | $0.70 | 1,383 |
| GPT-4.1 nano | OpenAI | $0.18 | 1,322 |
Cost
What each costs
Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.
The same work, priced
For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Claude Opus 5.5 costs 2.7 times as much as Gemini 4 Hydrogen, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
Claude Opus 5.5 costs 2.7× as much
- Claude Opus 5.5
- $80
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- $30
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
Claude Opus 5.5 costs 2.7× as much
- Claude Opus 5.5
- $45.80
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- $17.18
The same, through the batch API
Claude Opus 5.5 costs 2.7× as much
- Claude Opus 5.5
- $40
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- $15
| Workload or rate | Claude Opus 5.5 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $80 | $30 (better) |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $45.80 | $17.18 (better) |
| The same, through the batch API | $40 | $15 (better) |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.20 | $0.075 (better) |
| 1M input tokens, 5-minute cache write | $5 | Not listed |
| 1M input tokens, 1-hour cache write | $8 | Not listed |
| 1M input tokens, batch | $2 | $0.75 (better) |
| 1M output tokens, batch | $10 | $3.75 (better) |
| 1M input tokens, priority | Not listed | $2.70 |
| 1M output tokens, priority | Not listed | $13.50 |
Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.
Launch price $100, regular price $150
Verdict
When to choose each
Claude Opus 5.5
Where it leads
- Higher Arena Text score, 1507 Elo vs 1490 Elo
- Higher Arena WebDev score, 1815 Elo vs 1704 Elo
- Longer responses, up to 128,000 vs 65,536 output tokens
Best for
- Long-running agentic coding and knowledge work as the general-purpose default
- Cache-heavy agent loops where the 0.05x read multiplier compounds
Watch out for
- The API effort default is medium here, not high as on Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Sonnet 5.5, so a like-for-like comparison has to set effort explicitly
- The 4.7-generation tokenizer produces roughly 30% more tokens for the same text than Claude Sonnet 4.6 and earlier, so per-token rates do not compare directly across generations
Gemini 4 Hydrogen
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $1.50 and $7.50 vs $4 and $20 per 1M tokens
- Accepts audio and video input
- Cheaper cached input, $0.075 vs $0.20 per 1M tokens
- Cheaper batch processing, $15 vs $40 for 10M input and 2M output tokens
Best for
- Everyday coding, tool-using agents and parallel sub-agents at a mid-tier price
- Document, chart and video workflows over very long multimodal inputs
Watch out for
- In Google's own table Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher on Terminal-Bench 4.1 (63.9% against 57.0%), OSWorld-2.1 (83.9% against 77.6%) and Terminal-Bench-Science 0.1 (59.9% against 51.4%)
- A request returns at most 65,536 output tokens by default; longer outputs, up to 1,048,576 tokens, need Google long-decode mode, and only implicit context caching is supported
- Arena places it below Claude Sonnet 5.5 on WebDev (1704 against 1772) and just below Gemini 3.8 Flash on Arena Text (1490 against 1497), on 4,741 text and 1,997 WebDev votes so far; Epoch AI has not measured it yet
From benchmark to production
Building on Claude Opus 5.5 or Gemini 4 Hydrogen?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150
FAQ
Claude Opus 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5.5 or Gemini 4 Hydrogen?
Gemini 4 Hydrogen is 63% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Claude Opus 5.5, $1.50 vs $4. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Claude Opus 5.5 costs $80 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen $30 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, Claude Opus 5.5 or Gemini 4 Hydrogen?
Claude Opus 5.5 charges $0.20 per 1M cached input tokens, 95% below its standard input rate, and Gemini 4 Hydrogen $0.075, 95% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, Claude Opus 5.5 costs $45.80 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen $17.18.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Claude Opus 5.5 or Gemini 4 Hydrogen?
Claude Opus 5.5 leads on Arena Text, 1507 Elo to 1490 Elo; Claude Opus 5.5 leads on Arena WebDev, 1815 Elo to 1704 Elo. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Claude Opus 5.5 or Gemini 4 Hydrogen?
Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,000,000 and 1,048,576). Claude Opus 5.5 returns up to 128,000 tokens per response, Gemini 4 Hydrogen 65,536.
How do Claude Opus 5.5 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen differ in features?
Claude Opus 5.5 takes text and image input; Gemini 4 Hydrogen takes text, image, audio and video.
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More on Claude Opus 5.5 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen
Articles on Claude Opus 5.5 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- Claude Fable 5.2 vs Opus 5.5, GPT-6 Astra and Mythos 5.2November 14, 2026
- Gemini 4 Pro Leaks: What's Verified and What's HypeOctober 1, 2026
- GDPval-AA Chart Fact-Check: Opus 5.5 vs GPT-6 Astra on CostSeptember 24, 2026
- GPT-6 Sol vs Claude Opus 5.5, Plus Luna: Best Value per TaskSeptember 24, 2026
- Claude Opus 5.5 Benchmarks: What the Chart Shows and HidesSeptember 23, 2026
- Claude Opus 5.5: Tops the Independent Index at a Lower PriceSeptember 23, 2026
Related comparisons
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Carbon
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- Claude Haiku 5.5 vs Claude Opus 5.5
- Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Argon
- Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs GPT-6.1 Sol
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen
Production evaluation
Choosing between Claude Opus 5.5 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty