Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen3.7 Max
Gemini 3.5 Flash comes out ahead, 69 to 62 and 58 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 3.5 Flash
69/100- ECI154.5
- Price$1.50 / $9.00
- Context1.05M
AnthropicClaude Sonnet 4.6
62/100- ECI152.3
- Price$3.00 / $15.00
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.7 Max
58/100- ECI153.7
- Price$2.50 / $7.50
- Context1M
Gemini 3.5 Flash is our pick
Gemini 3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Claude Sonnet 4.6 (62) and Qwen3.7 Max (58). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3.5 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.5 Flash 154.5 · Qwen3.7 Max 153.7 · Claude Sonnet 4.6 152.3
- Lowest priceGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 3.5 Flash $3.38 · Qwen3.7 Max $3.75 · Claude Sonnet 4.6 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 3.5 Flash 1,048,576 · Claude Sonnet 4.6 1,000,000 · Qwen3.7 Max 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.5 FlashGemini 3.5 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Claude Sonnet 4.6: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.7 Max: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Qwen3.7 Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 84 | 81 | 83 |
| Price | 25% | 25 | 13 | 23 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 80 | 35 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 60 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 69/100 | 62/100 | 58/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3.5 FlashGoogle | Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic | Qwen3.7 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 154.5 (best) | 152.3 | 153.7 |
| ECI rank | #33 of 148 (best) | #40 of 148 | #37 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 92.8% (best) | 87.4% | 90.9% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 62.8% | — | 64.6% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 95.6% (best) | 85.8% | 95.6% (best) |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 79.3% (best) | 75.2% | 77.3% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.2% (best) | 35.5% | 55.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.50 (best) | $3.00 | $2.50 |
| Output | $9.00 | $15.00 | $7.50 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.15 (best) | $0.30 | $0.50 |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.38 (best) | $6.00 | $3.75 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Anthropic API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 64,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yeslow · medium · high · max | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-3.5-flash | claude-sonnet-4-6 | qwen3.7-max |
| API providers | 32 | 41 (best) | 26 |
| Released | May 19, 2026 | Feb 17, 2026 | May 21, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Aug 31, 2025 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemini 3.5 Flash$33.00
- Claude Sonnet 4.6$60.00
- Qwen3.7 Max$40.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Qwen3.7 Max?
Gemini 3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Claude Sonnet 4.6 (62) and Qwen3.7 Max (58). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Qwen3.7 Max?
Gemini 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $1.50 input / $9.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Qwen3.7 Max costs $2.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.38 per million tokens for Gemini 3.5 Flash versus $3.75 for Qwen3.7 Max (1.1× as much) and $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 4.6 (1.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3.5 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.5 Flash 154.5 (#33 of 148), Qwen3.7 Max 153.7 (#37 of 148) and Claude Sonnet 4.6 152.3 (#40 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (152.5–156.6 vs 151.9–156.0), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3.5 Flash 92.8%, Qwen3.7 Max 90.9%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 87.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 3.5 Flash 95.6%, Qwen3.7 Max 95.6%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 85.8%; SWE-bench Verified — Gemini 3.5 Flash 79.3%, Qwen3.7 Max 77.3%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 75.2%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.5 Flash 66.2%, Qwen3.7 Max 55.8%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 35.5%.
Which is better for coding?
Gemini 3.5 Flash resolves more real GitHub issues on SWE-bench Verified: Gemini 3.5 Flash 79.3%, Qwen3.7 Max 77.3% and Claude Sonnet 4.6 75.2%. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.5 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and 1,000,000 for Qwen3.7 Max. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash up to 65,536, Claude Sonnet 4.6 up to 64,000, Qwen3.7 Max up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3.5 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Claude Sonnet 4.6 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.7 Max accepts text. Gemini 3.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Gemini 3.5 Flash, Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Qwen3.7 Max are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.7 Max is the newest, released May 21, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash came out May 19, 2026; Claude Sonnet 4.6 came out Feb 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.5 Flash Jan 2025, Claude Sonnet 4.6 Aug 31, 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
Related comparisons
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Grok 4.5xAI · ECI 154.0
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic · ECI 156.3
- Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Muse Spark 1.1Meta · ECI 154.3
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.2OpenAI · ECI 153.5
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3 Pro PreviewGoogle · ECI 153.0
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs InklingThinking Machines · ECI 148.6
