Compare
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025
Pricing is only the shared seller matrix below. Best rates and catalog map are separate sections, so no chart is embedded in pricing. Open the calculator for the same workload on each side.
Model
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Best $2.80 in · $8.50 out
Context window 200K
Model
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025
Best $0.100 in · $0.400 out
Context window 1.0M
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025 is cheaper across the board — 96% cheaper on input and 97% cheaper on output.
Pricing matrix
Shared sellers only. Each row is a host that lists both models. Dollar amounts are per 1M tokens. Lowest in each pair of columns is emphasized.
| Provider | Claude Sonnet 4.6 in | Claude Sonnet 4.6 out | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025 in | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025 out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $3.00 | $15.00 | N/A | N/A |
| Aws Bedrock | $3.00 | $15.00 | N/A | N/A |
| Azure | $3.00 | $15.00 | N/A | N/A |
| Fireworks AI | $2.90 | $9.00 | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | $0.100 | $0.400 | |
| Google Vertex | $3.00 | $15.00 | $0.100 | $0.400 |
| Openrouter | $3.00 | $15.00 | $0.100 | $0.400 |
| Together AI | $2.80 | $8.50 | N/A | N/A |
Best listed rates (this pair)
Same "best row in current pricing" logic as model pages: a compact view of the lowest input and output we show for each side. This is not the seller matrix.
Catalog map · Anthropic · Google
Each chart uses real catalog rows that include both list input and list output ($/1M). Larger green dots are the models on this comparison page; accent dots are other active models from that provider.
Anthropic · input vs output
Scatter chart: X = input $/M, Y = output $/M. This page's models are labeled on the green dots; hover others for detail.
One dot per catalog row that has both list prices. Green dots are labeled with the models on this page; hover any dot for name and prices. Upper-right means higher cost on both axes ($/1M).
Google · input vs output
One dot per catalog row that has both list prices. Green dots are labeled with the models on this page; hover any dot for name and prices. Upper-right means higher cost on both axes ($/1M).
Specifications
Each column header is the full model name. Tint marks the favorable value where we compute a winner.
- Context window
- 200,000 tokens
- 1,048,576 tokens
- Max output tokens
- 8,192 tokens
- 65,535 tokens
- Vision
- Yes
- Yes
- Function calling
- Yes
- Yes
- Streaming
- Yes
- No
- Release date
- Feb 2026
- Sep 2025
Cost calculator
Same requests, input tokens, and output tokens for both columns. Pick the provider row that matches how you buy.
When to pick which
Short takeaways: no cards, just the points. Validate with your own workloads.
Long-context tasks
Use Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025. Its 1048K context window handles large codebases and documents better than 200K.
High-volume text generation
Use Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025. Output tokens are 97% cheaper, which compounds significantly at scale.
Long output (reports, code files)
Use Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025. Its 65K max output limit reduces the need to split requests.
Frequently asked questions
More comparisons
Other popular head-to-head matchups.
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- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.6
Claude Sonnet 4.6 40% cheaper on output
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-4o
GPT-4o 33% cheaper on output
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-4o mini
GPT-4o mini 96% cheaper on output
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025 vs Gemini 2.0 Flash
Same output pricing
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025 vs Gemini 1.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025 92% cheaper on output