Model comparison
Claude Opus 4.8 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash
Compare Claude Opus 4.8 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash API pricing: input/output token costs, cache pricing, context windows, workload estimates, and routing fit.
Claude Opus 4.8
anthropic · claude-opus-4-8
- Input
- $5
- Output
- $25
- Context
- 1M
Gemini 3.6 Flash
gemini · gemini-3.6-flash
- Input
- $1.5
- Output
- $7.5
- Context
- 1M
Quick take
Gemini 3.6 Flash has the lower input price at $1.5 per 1M input tokens. Gemini 3.6 Flash is cheaper for the example blended workload below. Gemini 3.6 Flash has the larger context window at 1M tokens.
Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if...
- Claude Opus 4.8 gives more room for long generated answers, reports, or code output.
Choose Gemini 3.6 Flash if...
- Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better default for cost-sensitive traffic and repeated high-volume calls.
- Gemini 3.6 Flash is safer for long documents, repository analysis, and RAG prompts because it has the larger context window.
Example workload cost
Estimates use input tokens plus 20% output tokens. They exclude provider discounts, cache hits, and tool/search surcharges.
| Workload | Claude Opus 4.8 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M input + 200K output | $10.00 | $3.00 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| 10M input + 2M output | $100.00 | $30.00 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| 100M input + 20M output | $1,000.00 | $300.00 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
Context, output, and capability fit
Gemini 3.6 Flash provides the larger context window. Check max output separately when the task needs long reports, code generation, or full-document rewrites.
- Claude Opus 4.8 max output
- 128K
- Gemini 3.6 Flash max output
- 65.5K
- Claude Opus 4.8 features
- prompt caching, function calling, vision
- Gemini 3.6 Flash features
- prompt caching, function calling, vision
Risk notes for Claude Opus 4.8
- High output price: cap max tokens for verbose generation workloads.
Risk notes for Gemini 3.6 Flash
- No major capability risk is flagged in this snapshot, but provider pages should still be verified before production routing.
Routing tags
frontierpremiumreasoningcodingagentslong-contextmultimodalcache-friendlyragfaststablebudget