Claude Opus 5 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash: pricing and benchmarks
Gemini 3.6 Flash is 85% cheaper on input tokens ($0.75 vs $5.00 per 1M). Gemini 3.6 Flash is 85% cheaper on output tokens ($3.75 vs $25.00 per 1M). On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $412.50 a month versus $2,750 for Claude Opus 5, 85% less. Claude Opus 5 scores 162.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index vs 154.2 for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Prices verified October 17, 2026.
Which should you choose?
Claude Opus 5 scores 162.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index vs 154.2 for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Claude Opus 5 scores 73.6% on DeepSWE vs 46.7% for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Claude Opus 5 scores 85.6% on FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3) vs 58.9% for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $1.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 input-to-output mix) vs $10.00 for Claude Opus 5, 85% less.
A trade-off: Claude Opus 5 is 8.4 ECI points more capable but costs 6.7x as much as Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Pricing and specs
| Claude Opus 5 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| API model ID | claude-opus-5 | gemini-3.6-flash |
| Input / 1M tokens | $5.00 | $0.75 |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.50 | $0.075 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $25.00 | $3.75 |
| Long-context rates | — | — |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | 66K tokens |
| Batch discount | 50% off | 50% off |
Benchmarks
| Claude Opus 5 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 162.6 | 154.2 |
| GPQA Diamond· Science reasoning | 93.9% | 94.1% |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3)· Advanced math | 85.6% | 58.9% |
| SimpleQA Verified· Factual accuracy | 59.9% | 66.2% |
| ARC-AGI-2· Abstract reasoning | 90.4% | 60.4% |
| DeepSWE· Coding | 73.6% | 46.7% |
| APEX-Agents· Agentic work | 65.8% | 46.9% |
Source: Epoch AI, best recorded result per model (CC BY 4.0). A dash means no published score. See all benchmarks
Monthly cost for real workloads
| Workload | Claude Opus 5 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Support chatbot 100,000 replies a month, ~1,500 input tokens (system prompt + history) and ~400 output tokens each. | $1,750 | $262.50 | Gemini 3.6 Flash 85% cheaper |
Document Q&A (RAG) 50,000 questions a month with ~8,000 tokens of retrieved context and ~600 output tokens each. | $2,750 | $412.50 | Gemini 3.6 Flash 85% cheaper |
Coding agent 10,000 agent steps a month, ~40,000 input tokens each (70% read from the prompt cache) and ~2,000 output tokens. | $1,240 | $186.00 | Gemini 3.6 Flash 85% cheaper |
Estimates use standard list prices and ignore cache-write surcharges. Different tokenizers can count the same text differently, so test with your own prompts.
Claude Opus 5 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash cost calculator
- $412.50/mo$0.0083 / request
- Claude Opus 5Anthropic$2,750/mo$0.06 / request
Standard-tier list prices. Long-context rates apply automatically where the provider publishes a threshold. Excludes cache-write surcharges, taxes, batch and volume discounts.
Claude Opus 5 pricing notes
Anthropic’s model for complex agentic coding and enterprise work.
- Cache writes cost $6.25 (5-minute cache) or $10 (1-hour cache) per 1M tokens.
- Fast mode (research preview) costs $10 input / $50 output per 1M tokens.
- Uses Anthropic’s newer tokenizer, which produces roughly 30% more tokens for the same text.
- US-only inference (inference_geo: "us") costs 1.1x.
Gemini 3.6 Flash pricing notes
Google’s previous-generation Flash model, which replaced Gemini 3.5 Flash in October 2026.
- Introductory price through December 31, 2026. From January 1, 2027: $1.50 input, $0.15 cached, $7.50 output per 1M tokens.
- Requests to the retired gemini-3.5-flash model ID are routed to Gemini 3.6 Flash.
- Output price includes thinking tokens.
- Priority inference costs 1.8x the standard rate.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Claude Opus 5 cheaper than Gemini 3.6 Flash?
- Gemini 3.6 Flash is 85% cheaper on input tokens ($0.75 vs $5.00 per 1M). Gemini 3.6 Flash is 85% cheaper on output tokens ($3.75 vs $25.00 per 1M). On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $412.50 a month versus $2,750 for Claude Opus 5, 85% less.
- Which is more capable, Claude Opus 5 or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
- Claude Opus 5 scores 162.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index vs 154.2 for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
- How much does Claude Opus 5 cost per 1M tokens?
- Claude Opus 5 costs $5.00 per 1M input tokens and $25.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.50 per 1M cached input tokens on Anthropic’s standard tier.
- How much does Gemini 3.6 Flash cost per 1M tokens?
- Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 per 1M input tokens and $3.75 per 1M output tokens, and $0.075 per 1M cached input tokens on Google’s standard tier.
- Which has the larger context window, Claude Opus 5 or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
- Gemini 3.6 Flash has the larger context window: 1.05M tokens versus 1M for Claude Opus 5.