Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Gemini 3 Flash
At a Glance
| Compare | Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic |  Gemini 3 FlashGoogle DeepMind |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency | ||
| IntelligenceHigher is better · MM Intelligence v2.5 | #36 of 4627.7 score · 2/3 sources · provisional · missing LiveBench · full-core range 18.5–51.8 | UnrankedNot in the 46-model eligible cohort |
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $3.00Anthropic ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 | $0.50Google AI ↗ · Aug 29, 2026 |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $15.00Anthropic ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 | $3.00Google AI ↗ · Aug 29, 2026 |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 200K | 1,049K |
| Model facts checked | Sep 3, 2026View model evidence → | Aug 29, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Gemini 3 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Document Arenadocument-2026-09-13-d25aabda0010 · arena_rating · leader | 1,449.81100% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929; 95% CI [1443.68972646, 1455.92640287]; votes 31455; rank 28 | 1,412.9997% of row best · rating · gemini-3-flash; 95% CI [1403.58694998, 1422.40270038]; votes 7158; rank 40 |
| LMArena Search Arenasearch-2026-08-24-d25aabda0010 · arena_rating · leader | 1,158.4697% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-5-search; 95% CI [1153.41447529, 1163.49714967]; votes 127378; rank 24 | 1,198.09100% of row best · rating · gemini-3-flash-grounding; 95% CI [1193.35426288, 1202.82591975]; votes 149334; rank 15 |
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-13-d25aabda0010 · arena_rating · leader | 1,433.9499% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929-high-32k; 95% CI [1431.13982742, 1436.74901697]; votes 80980; rank 81 | 1,442.40100% of row best · rating · gemini-3-flash (thinking-minimal); 95% CI [1439.30492660, 1445.49388279]; votes 85799; rank 61 |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above | 1 benchmark winNo overall winner | 2 benchmark winsNo overall winner |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Gemini 3 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Anthropic | Google DeepMind |
| Family | Claude 4 | Gemini 3 |
| Model | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Gemini 3 Flash |
| Version | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Gemini 3 Flash |
| Lifecycle | active | preview |
| Released | 2025-09-29 | Unknown |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-01-01 | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video, Audio, Document |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 200K | 1,049K |
| Total parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| Active parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| License | Unknown | Unknown |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Provider access | Anthropic (Standard) | Google AI (Standard), Google Gemini (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
Claude Sonnet 4.5 Capabilities
Gemini 3 Flash Capabilities
Related Comparisons
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|---|---|---|---|
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | vs | Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | family variantsimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle DeepMind | cross-developer peerstext |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  Kimi-K3Moonshot AI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
 MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peerstext |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peerstext |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Gemini 3 Flash FAQs
Is Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Gemini 3 Flash better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Gemini 3 Flash, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Gemini 3 Flash?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is $3.00 and Gemini 3 Flash is $0.50 per million tokens, so Gemini 3 Flash is cheaper on this metric. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is $15.00 and Gemini 3 Flash is $3.00 per million tokens, so Gemini 3 Flash is cheaper on this metric.
Which has a larger context window, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Gemini 3 Flash?+
Gemini 3 Flash has the larger sourced context window. Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 200K and Gemini 3 Flash supports 1,049K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Gemini 3 Flash?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: An overall winner requires at least two decisive benchmarks from at least two original publishers.
Can Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Gemini 3 Flash be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: unsupported. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is not marked open weight; Gemini 3 Flash is not marked open weight.
Can Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Gemini 3 Flash understand images?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is documented with image input; Gemini 3 Flash is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Gemini 3 Flash?+
Gemini 3 Flash has the larger sourced maximum output: Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 64K and Gemini 3 Flash supports 66K output tokens.
Do Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Gemini 3 Flash support reasoning and tool use?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Gemini 3 Flash: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Gemini 3 Flash?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has 1 sourced provider route; Gemini 3 Flash has 2, so Gemini 3 Flash has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Gemini 3 Flash?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.