text model comparison
Claude Opus 5 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash
Claude Opus 5 and Gemini 3.6 Flash are both current text models, from Anthropic and Google. Gemini 3.6 Flash is 70% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Claude Opus 5, $1.50 vs $5. On Arena Text, Claude Opus 5 scores 1490 Elo and Gemini 3.6 Flash 1482 Elo (Arena, measured October 8, 2026). Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).
Data verified October 12, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-13
Side by side
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 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M input tokens | $5 | $1.50 (better) |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $25 | $7.50 (better) |
| Arena Text | 1490 Elo (#7 of 49) (better) | 1482 Elo (#14 of 49) |
| GPQA Diamond | 93.9% (#10 of 40) | 94.1% (#8 of 40) (better) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 85.6% (#10 of 40) (better) | 58.9% (#29 of 40) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 59.9% (#15 of 36) | 66.2% (#11 of 36) (better) |
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| Release date | July 24, 2026 | July 21, 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 |
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.
| Workload or rate | Claude Opus 5 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $100 | $30 (better) |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $59.50 | Not listed |
| The same, through the batch API | $50 | Not listed |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.50 | Not listed |
| 1M input tokens, batch | $2.50 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, batch | $12.50 | Not listed |
When to choose each
Claude Opus 5
Where it leads
- Higher Arena Text score, 1490 Elo vs 1482 Elo
- Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 85.6% vs 58.9%
- Longer responses, up to 128,000 vs 65,536 output tokens
- A cached-input rate, $0.50 per 1M tokens
- Batch pricing, $2.50 input and $12.50 output per 1M tokens
Best for
- Complex agentic coding and enterprise work as the general-purpose default before reaching for Fable 5.1
- Latency-sensitive work that can justify Fast mode pricing
Watch out for
- Fast mode pricing applies to the whole request, including above 200K input tokens, so it doubles the effective rate rather than adding a surcharge
- Cache reads are $0.50 per million (the standard 0.1x), five times Fable 5.1’s $0.25, even though Opus 5 is the cheaper model on base tokens. A cache-heavy agent loop can invert the expected cost ordering between the two.
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $1.50 and $7.50 vs $5 and $25 per 1M tokens
- Higher GPQA Diamond score, 94.1% vs 93.9%
- Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 66.2% vs 59.9%
- Accepts audio and video input
Best for
- Current multimodal agentic evaluations balancing speed and capability
Watch out for
- Not in the pinned LiveBench snapshot; its independent scores here come from Epoch AI's own GPQA Diamond, FrontierMath and SimpleQA Verified runs
Claude Opus 5 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5 or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is 70% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Claude Opus 5, $1.50 vs $5. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Claude Opus 5 costs $100 and Gemini 3.6 Flash $30 at standard rates.
Do Claude Opus 5 and Gemini 3.6 Flash discount cached input?
Claude Opus 5 lists a cached-input rate of $0.50 per 1M tokens, 90% below its standard input rate. No cached-input rate is listed for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Claude Opus 5 or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Claude Opus 5 leads on Arena Text, 1490 Elo to 1482 Elo; Gemini 3.6 Flash leads on GPQA Diamond, 94.1% to 93.9%; Claude Opus 5 leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 85.6% to 58.9%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Claude Opus 5 or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000). Claude Opus 5 returns up to 128,000 tokens per response, Gemini 3.6 Flash 65,536.
How do Claude Opus 5 and Gemini 3.6 Flash differ in features?
Claude Opus 5 takes text and image input; Gemini 3.6 Flash takes text, image, audio and video.
Articles on Claude Opus 5 and Gemini 3.6 Flash
- Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Claude Opus 5: Route by TierJuly 26, 2026 · compares both
- Fable 5.1 vs Opus 5 vs GPT-5.6: Which to UseSeptember 1, 2026
- Kimi K3 vs Opus 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol: which model should you use?July 31, 2026
- Claude Opus 5: What Anthropic's New Flagship Means for AI AgentsJuly 26, 2026
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- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Gemini 3.6 Flash
- Claude Opus 5 vs GPT-5.5
- Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Mistral Large 4
- Claude Opus 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol
- Claude Opus 5 vs Kimi K3
- Claude Fable 5.1 vs Claude Opus 5
Production evaluation
Choosing between Claude Opus 5 and Gemini 3.6 Flash?
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