ModelRefs / Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Gemini 2.5 Flash: side-by-side benchmarks, pricing, context windows, coding ability and deployment. Pick the right model for your stack.
Overview
Claude 3.5 Sonnet: Claude 3.5 Sonnet is Anthropic's mid-2024 balanced model, the release that introduced computer use and anchored Anthropic's agentic-coding positioning for its generation across a 200,000-token context window. It is now retired: Anthropic deprecated both the claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620 and claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022 snapshots on 13 August 2025 and retired them on 28 October 2025 on Anthropic-operated platforms, naming Claude Sonnet 5.5 as the replacement.
Gemini 2.5 Flash: Gemini 2.5 Flash is Google DeepMind's price-performance model for low-latency, high-volume work that still needs reasoning, with thinking supported. It accepts text, image, audio and video input across a 1,048,576-token context window, returns up to 65,536 tokens, and carries a January 2025 knowledge cutoff. Google now limits access to existing users while keeping the model served.
Context window: Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts up to 200,000 tokens, Gemini 2.5 Flash up to 1,000,000. Confirm the limit for your specific deployment channel before relying on it.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Gemini 2.5 Flash at a glance
| Attribute | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| Released | 2024-06-20 | 2025-06-17 |
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Input price | $3/M tokens | $0.075/M tokens |
| Output price | $15/M tokens | $0.3/M tokens |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Self-hostable | No, hosted only | No, hosted only |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision, audio |
Where they differ most
- Cost Efficiency: Claude 3.5 Sonnet 37%, Gemini 2.5 Flash 95%. Gemini 2.5 Flash leads on this dimension.
Capability scores are ModelRefs' own derived signals, not vendor claims or benchmark results. Validate against your own workload before relying on them.
Continue your research
Use these connected ModelRefs sections to compare alternatives, inspect implementation paths, and review the evidence and governance boundaries relevant to Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Gemini 2.5 Flash.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Gemini 2.5 Flash?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Gemini 2.5 Flash target different workloads — see the benchmark and pricing tables for a side-by-side answer.
Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet cheaper than Gemini 2.5 Flash?
Compare $0.00300 vs $0.00007 on this page.