Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
A direct API-pricing comparison between Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 2.5 Flash. Below: every cost dimension side by side, then the bottom line for a typical workload.
Bottom line
For a typical 5K-in / 1K-out request, Gemini 2.5 Flash is the cheaper choice at $0.0040 per call — 7.5× less than Claude Sonnet 4.6 at $0.030.
| Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic | Gemini 2.5 FlashGoogle | |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $3.00 | $0.300 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $15.00 | $2.50 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.300 | $0.075 |
| Context window | 200K | 1M |
| Provider | Anthropic |
Green = cheaper on that line. Prices are estimates from public pricing pages; verify against Anthropic and Google before relying on them.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemini 2.5 Flash?
On output tokens — usually the dominant cost — Claude Sonnet 4.6 charges $15.00 per million versus $2.50 for Gemini 2.5 Flash. The right pick depends on your input/output ratio and how much you can serve from cache. Use the calculator to model your exact traffic.