Claude vs Gemini: which is better and what they cost in 2026

Side by side

Model	Vendor	Type	Context window	API price per 1M tokens (input / output)	Open weights	Released
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic's main model for demanding work, coding and long documents, and the one Anthropic recommends starting with.	Anthropic	flagship	1M	4 / 20	no	Sep 2026
Claude Sonnet 5.5Claude's balanced model for everyday work and coding. It is faster than Opus 5.5 and costs half as much.	Anthropic	balanced	1M	2 / 10	no	Sep 2026
Claude Haiku 5.5Claude's cheapest and fastest model, built for classification, data extraction and large volumes of simple tasks.	Anthropic	fast and cheap	1M	0.1 / 0.5	no	Oct 2026
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle's most capable publicly available model, out in October 2026. Built for demanding analytical work where accuracy matters and made-up answers are costly.	Google	flagship	1.05M	2 / 10	no	Oct 2026
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle's fast, lower-cost model for everyday work, coding and document analysis. You can try it in the API for free.	Google	balanced	1.05M	0.75 / 3.75	no	Sep 2026
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteA very fast, low-cost Google model for large volumes of simple tasks, such as pulling data out of documents.	Google	fast and cheap	1.05M	0.3 / 2.5	no	Jul 2026

The main differences at a glance

Overall performance: on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5.0, Claude Opus 5.5 ranks 2nd of 52 models with 58 points and Gemini 4 Argon 13th with 50.
Coding: on Terminal-Bench 4.0, Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores 70.6% and Opus 5.5 66.4% according to Anthropic. According to The Batch, Gemini 4 Argon trails Anthropic’s newest models at agentic coding.
Accuracy: on AA-Omniscience, Gemini 4 Argon had the lowest rate of made-up answers (15%) among all models scoring at least 45 on the Artificial Analysis index.
Inputs: Gemini models also understand video and audio. Claude models handle text, images and PDFs. The Gemini app can create images, Claude can’t.
Integration: Gemini works inside Gmail and Google Docs. Claude Pro connects to Microsoft 365 and includes Claude in Chrome.

What the subscriptions cost

Claude: Free, Pro at $20 ($17 a month with annual billing) and Max at $100 or $200. Prices exclude VAT, which is added at checkout in Europe.
Gemini: free without a plan, Google AI Plus at $4.99, Google AI Pro at $19.99 and Ultra at $99.99 or $199.99 a month.
Only Google has a cheap middle step. Claude has nothing between Free and Pro. Google AI Pro also includes 5 TB of storage.
Companies: Claude Team costs $25 per user a month before VAT ($20 billed annually). Gemini comes with Google Workspace from €6.80 before VAT, and in Docs and Sheets from Business Standard at €13.60 before VAT.

For plan details, see Claude pricing and Gemini pricing.

Coding and AI agents

Anthropic’s coding tool is Claude Code, which starts with the Pro plan. Google has Google Antigravity, where AI Pro gives base agent limits and Ultra the highest.

On Terminal-Bench 4.0, which tests work in the command line, Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores 70.6% according to Anthropic. Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 90.8% according to Google, but on the older Terminal-Bench 2.1, so the numbers can’t be compared. For agentic coding Claude comes out ahead. According to the independent review in The Batch, Gemini 4 Argon also trails Anthropic’s newest models.

Speed is closer. Sonnet 5.5 writes about 138 tokens per second and Gemini 3.8 Flash 140. Gemini 4 Argon is slow to start in the API and sends the first part of its answer after about 45 seconds.

Accuracy and working with facts

Here Gemini 4 Argon has the edge. On the Vals Index v2.1, which tests finance, legal, tax and coding tasks, it ranks first of 43 models with 68.9%. It also ranks first for text in the public votes on arena.ai. Its low rate of made-up answers on AA-Omniscience helps with contracts, numbers and research.

For AI agents that read the web and other people’s documents, resistance to hidden instructions (prompt injection) matters. Google says attacks on Argon succeeded in only 0.7% of cases on the Gray Swan test. Anthropic reports an improvement for Opus 5.5 over Opus 5. There are no directly comparable numbers, so the same rule applies: check important output.

Long documents and API prices

In the API both families have a window of about 1 million tokens. Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 charge no extra for long input. Claude models can write longer answers in one go, up to 128,000 tokens, while Gemini 4 Argon tops out at 65,536. In the Gemini app, Google AI Pro gets the 1 million token window, the free version only 32,000.

Flagships: Opus 5.5 costs $4 for input and $20 for output per million tokens, Gemini 4 Argon $2 and $10. From December 2026 Argon’s price doubles and matches Opus.
Mid-range: Sonnet 5.5 costs $2 and $10, Gemini 3.8 Flash $0.75 and $3.75. From 1 January 2027 Flash costs $1.50 and $7.50.
Cheapest: Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 and $0.50 for input up to 100,000 tokens, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite $0.30 and $2.50.
Gemini 3.8 Flash and Flash-Lite have a free API tier.

Watch the answer length. In the Artificial Analysis test, Opus 5.5 produced 220 million output tokens and Gemini 4 Argon 110 million. You pay for output, so the real cost per task goes up with Claude.

Privacy and the EU

Claude: Slovakia and Czechia are supported countries. But Anthropic’s own API stores data in the US and you can’t choose an EU region. Companies that need data in the EU have to check the options on Amazon Bedrock or Google Cloud.
Gemini: in Google Workspace, company data is not used for training. Under its terms, Google doesn’t train on Gemini API data from users in the EEA, even on the free tier. On Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, data can stay in the EU. Personal accounts follow different rules, which you can check in your Google account settings.

If your company must keep data in the EU, Google handles it directly. Anthropic’s own API offers no EU region, so you would have to check what its cloud partners offer.

What Gemini 4 Carbon will bring

On 28 October 2026 Google announced Gemini 4 Carbon. According to Google it scores 59 on the Artificial Analysis index, one point above Claude Opus 5.5. For now, though, only selected cyber defenders have access, and Google has not given a date for everyone else. We will update this comparison once it is available.

Verdict

If you write code or want an AI agent for long independent tasks, pick Claude. The Batch rates it ahead at agentic coding, Sonnet 5.5 scores 70.6% on Terminal-Bench 4.0 according to Anthropic, and Claude Code comes with Pro at $20. If you work with facts, contracts and long documents, use Gmail and Google Docs, or need data in the EU, Gemini with Google AI Pro gives you more. Gemini is also cheaper in the API and has a low-cost AI Plus plan at $4.99. For everyday writing the difference depends on the task, so try both for free on the same prompt. See also Claude vs ChatGPT and ChatGPT vs Gemini.

FAQ

Is Claude better than Gemini?

For coding and on the overall index, yes. Claude Opus 5.5 scores 58 on the Artificial Analysis index and Gemini 4 Argon 50. But Argon ranks first on the Vals Index v2.1 with finance and legal tasks, and it is among the models that make things up least often in tests. For everyday writing, try both for free.

Which is cheaper, Claude Pro or Google AI Pro?

They cost about the same. Claude Pro is $20 before VAT, or $17 a month with annual billing. Google AI Pro costs $19.99 a month and adds 5 TB of storage. Only Google has a cheaper entry plan, AI Plus at $4.99.

Which is better for coding, Claude or Gemini?

Claude. On Terminal-Bench 4.0, Sonnet 5.5 scores 70.6% and Opus 5.5 66.4% according to Anthropic. Google hasn’t published an Argon score on this test, but The Batch says Argon trails Anthropic’s models at agentic coding. Gemini 3.8 Flash is cheap, though, and you can try it for free in the API.

Where does my data stay with Claude and with Gemini?

Anthropic’s own API stores data in the US and you can’t choose an EU region. Google offers an EU region on Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform and, under its terms, doesn’t train on Gemini API data from users in the EEA. If your company needs data in the EU, Gemini makes it easier.

Sources

Prices and models change often. The data comes from official vendor pricing pages and documentation, and every page shows when it was last checked. Before a larger purchase, confirm the price with the vendor.