Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash — Price, Context, and Capability Compared
Verdict
Gemini 3.6 Flash costs 1.7× more per blended million tokens than Claude Haiku 4.5. Gemini 3.6 Flash has the larger context window (1,000,000 tokens). Default to Claude Haiku 4.5 unless you specifically need Gemini 3.6 Flash's edge. Only Gemini 3.6 Flash exposes an extended-thinking mode.
Spec comparison
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (input) | $1.00/M ✓ | $1.50/M |
| Price (output) | $5.00/M ✓ | $9.00/M |
| Blended price | $2.00/M ✓ | $3.38/M |
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens ✓ |
| Max output | 32,000 tokens | 64,000 tokens ✓ |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision, audio |
| Reasoning mode | No | Yes |
| Released | 2025-11 | 2026-06 |
| Speed | 148 t/s ✓ | 114 t/s |
Cost at scale (3:1 blended)
| Tokens / month | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 | $2.00 | $3.38 | $1.38 (1.7×) |
| 10,000,000 | $20.00 | $33.75 | $13.75 (1.7×) |
| 100,000,000 | $200.00 | $337.50 | $137.50 (1.7×) |
Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 if…
- ✓Fastest Claude model
- ✓Lowest Claude pricing
- ✓Vision input included
- ✓Lightweight, high-volume operations like chat, tagging, and moderation.
Choose Gemini 3.6 Flash if…
- ✓Faster than Gemini 3.5 Flash
- ✓Top-tier coding and agentic performance for its price
- ✓1M-token context
- ✓Latency-sensitive coding and agentic tasks that still need a huge context window.
Run this exact matchup right now
Send the same prompt to Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemini 3.6 Flash side by side and see the outputs yourself.
Try Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash FreeFAQ
Is Claude Haiku 4.5 cheaper than Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Claude Haiku 4.5 is cheaper, at $2.00 per million blended tokens vs $3.38 for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Gemini 3.6 Flash has the larger context window: 1,000,000 tokens vs 200,000.
Can Claude Haiku 4.5 replace Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding?
Both are viable for coding. Fastest Claude model (Claude Haiku 4.5) vs Faster than Gemini 3.5 Flash (Gemini 3.6 Flash) — pick based on which strength matters more for your workload.
Which is faster, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Claude Haiku 4.5 is faster: 148 t/s vs 114 t/s, measured on our speed benchmarks.
Related
Pricing verified 2026-04-06. Specs verified 2026-08-08.
