Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Argon: pricing and benchmarks
Both charge $2.00 per 1M input tokens. Both charge $10.00 per 1M output tokens. On our document Q&A workload both models cost $1,100 a month. Roughly tied. Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores 164.4 and Gemini 4 Argon scores 164.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index, and their confidence intervals overlap.
Prices verified October 17, 2026.
Which should you choose?
Roughly tied. Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores 164.4 and Gemini 4 Argon scores 164.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index, and their confidence intervals overlap.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores 88.8% on FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3) vs 86.0% for Gemini 4 Argon.
Both cost $4.00 per 1M tokens at a 3:1 input-to-output mix.
Pricing and specs
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Gemini 4 Argon | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| API model ID | claude-sonnet-5-5 | gemini-4-argon |
| Input / 1M tokens | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.20 | $0.10 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $10.00 | $10.00 |
| Long-context rates | — | — |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | 66K tokens |
| Batch discount | 50% off | 50% off |
Benchmarks
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Gemini 4 Argon | |
|---|---|---|
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 164.4 | 164.6 |
| GPQA Diamond· Science reasoning | 95.6% | 96.4% |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3)· Advanced math | 88.8% | 86.0% |
| SimpleQA Verified· Factual accuracy | 46.5% | 76.0% |
| ARC-AGI-2· Abstract reasoning | — | — |
| DeepSWE· Coding | — | — |
| APEX-Agents· Agentic work | 75.5% | 82.4% |
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 Sonnet 5.5 | Gemini 4 Argon | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Support chatbot 100,000 replies a month, ~1,500 input tokens (system prompt + history) and ~400 output tokens each. | $700.00 | $700.00 | Same |
Document Q&A (RAG) 50,000 questions a month with ~8,000 tokens of retrieved context and ~600 output tokens each. | $1,100 | $1,100 | Same |
Coding agent 10,000 agent steps a month, ~40,000 input tokens each (70% read from the prompt cache) and ~2,000 output tokens. | $496.00 | $468.00 | Gemini 4 Argon 6% 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 Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Argon cost calculator
- $1,100/mo$0.02 / request
- Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$1,100/mo$0.02 / 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 Sonnet 5.5 pricing notes
Anthropic’s fast mid-tier model, successor to Claude Sonnet 5 at the same price.
- Cache writes cost $2.50 (5-minute cache) or $4 (1-hour cache) per 1M tokens.
- US-only inference (inference_geo: "us") costs 1.1x.
Gemini 4 Argon pricing notes
Google’s flagship reasoning model for complex coding, agents, math and science.
- Introductory price through November 30, 2026. From December 1, 2026: $4 input, $0.20 cached, $20 output per 1M tokens.
- Not available on the Gemini API free tier.
- Output price includes thinking tokens.
- Max output is 65,536 tokens by default and up to 1,048,576 with long decode.
- Implicit caching only; explicit context caching is not supported.
- Priority inference costs 1.8x the standard rate.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 cheaper than Gemini 4 Argon?
- Both charge $2.00 per 1M input tokens. Both charge $10.00 per 1M output tokens. On our document Q&A workload both models cost $1,100 a month.
- Which is more capable, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Gemini 4 Argon?
- Roughly tied. Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores 164.4 and Gemini 4 Argon scores 164.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index, and their confidence intervals overlap.
- How much does Claude Sonnet 5.5 cost per 1M tokens?
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $10.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.20 per 1M cached input tokens on Anthropic’s standard tier.
- How much does Gemini 4 Argon cost per 1M tokens?
- Gemini 4 Argon costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $10.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.10 per 1M cached input tokens on Google’s standard tier.
- Which has the larger context window, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Gemini 4 Argon?
- Gemini 4 Argon has the larger context window: 1.05M tokens versus 1M for Claude Sonnet 5.5.