Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro — Price, Context, and Capability Compared
Verdict
Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs 1.3× more per blended million tokens than Gemini 3.1 Pro. Gemini 3.1 Pro has the larger context window (2,000,000 tokens). Default to Gemini 3.1 Pro unless you specifically need Claude Sonnet 4.6's edge.
Spec comparison
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemini 3.1 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (input) | $3.00/M | $2.00/M ✓ |
| Price (output) | $15.00/M | $12.00/M ✓ |
| Blended price | $6.00/M | $4.50/M ✓ |
| Context window | 300,000 tokens | 2,000,000 tokens ✓ |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens | 64,000 tokens |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision, audio |
| Reasoning mode | Yes | Yes |
| Released | 2026-03 | 2026-02 |
| Speed | 76 t/s ✓ | 55 t/s |
Cost at scale (3:1 blended)
| Tokens / month | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemini 3.1 Pro | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 | $6.00 | $4.50 | $1.50 (1.3×) |
| 10,000,000 | $60.00 | $45.00 | $15.00 (1.3×) |
| 100,000,000 | $600.00 | $450.00 | $150.00 (1.3×) |
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 if…
- ✓Best intelligence-per-dollar in the Claude lineup
- ✓Fast enough for interactive coding agents
- ✓Reliable structured output
- ✓Enterprise workloads that need Opus-adjacent quality at Sonnet pricing.
Choose Gemini 3.1 Pro if…
- ✓Largest context window of any current model (2M tokens)
- ✓Native audio and video understanding
- ✓Google Search grounding
- ✓Whole-codebase, whole-document, or long-video analysis in a single request.
Run this exact matchup right now
Send the same prompt to Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro side by side and see the outputs yourself.
Try Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro FreeFAQ
Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 cheaper than Gemini 3.1 Pro?
Gemini 3.1 Pro is cheaper, at $4.50 per million blended tokens vs $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
Gemini 3.1 Pro has the larger context window: 2,000,000 tokens vs 300,000.
Can Claude Sonnet 4.6 replace Gemini 3.1 Pro for coding?
Both are viable for coding. Best intelligence-per-dollar in the Claude lineup (Claude Sonnet 4.6) vs Largest context window of any current model (2M tokens) (Gemini 3.1 Pro) — pick based on which strength matters more for your workload.
Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is faster: 76 t/s vs 55 t/s, measured on our speed benchmarks.
Related
Pricing verified 2026-04-06. Specs verified 2026-08-08.
