Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2
Gemini 3 Flash Preview comes out ahead, 73 to 44 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 3 Flash Preview
73/100- ECI151.8
- Price$0.50 / $3.00
- Context1.05M
AnthropicClaude Sonnet 3.5 v2
44/100- ECI133.5
- Price$3.00 / $15.00
- Context200K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is our pick
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 (44). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3 Flash PreviewCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3 Flash Preview 151.8 · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 133.5
- Lowest priceGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview $1.13 · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview 1,048,576 · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 200,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2: Text, Images, PDFs
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 80 | 57 |
| Price | 25% | 47 | 13 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 60 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 44/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle | Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2Anthropic |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 151.8 (best) | 133.5 |
| ECI rank | #43 of 148 (best) | #119 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 89.4% (best) | 55.3% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 51.2% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 95.6% (best) | 8.5% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 75.4% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.8% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.50 (best) | $3.00 |
| Output | $3.00 (best) | $15.00 |
| Cached input | $0.05 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.13 (best) | $6.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 200,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | No |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-3-flash-preview | — |
| API providers | 20 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Dec 17, 2025 | Oct 22, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Apr 30, 2024 |
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 Flash Preview$11.00
- Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2$60.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 (44). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Flash Preview or Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is cheaper at $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.13 per million tokens for Gemini 3 Flash Preview versus $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 (5.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3 Flash Preview 151.8 (#43 of 148) and Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 133.5 (#119 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (150.4–153.7 vs 129.2–137.5), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3 Flash Preview 89.4%, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 55.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 3 Flash Preview 95.6%, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 8.5%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3 Flash Preview leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 200,000 for Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3 Flash Preview up to 65,536, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 accepts text, images and PDFs. Gemini 3 Flash Preview handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Gemini 3 Flash Preview and Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the newest, released Dec 17, 2025. Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 came out Oct 22, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3 Flash Preview Jan 2025, Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 Apr 30, 2024.
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.
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