Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite (Comparative Analysis)
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Comparative Analysis: Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
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Overview
Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released 2 months before Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite.
 Claude Sonnet 4.6 |  Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | |
|---|---|---|
Model Provider The organization behind this AI's development | Anthropic | Google |
Input Context Window Maximum input tokens this model can process at once | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
Output Token Limit Maximum output tokens this model can generate at once | 128K tokens | 65.5K tokens |
Release Date When this model first became publicly available | February 17, 2026 5 months ago February 17th, 2026 | May 7, 2026 2 months ago May 7th, 2026 |
Capabilities & Features
Compare supported features, modalities, and advanced capabilities
Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | |
|---|---|---|
Input Types Supported input formats | 📝Text🖼️Image📁File | 📝Text🖼️Image🎬Video📁File🎵Audio |
Reasoning Controls Defaults and configurable reasoning effort | OptionalEffort: Max, High, Medium, LowDefault: Medium | Enabled by defaultEffort: High, Medium, Low, MinimalDefault: Minimal |
Output Types Supported output formats | 📝Text | 📝Text |
Tokenizer Text encoding system | Claude | Gemini |
Key Features Advanced capabilities | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning Mode✓Content Moderation | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning ModeContent Moderation |
Pricing
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is roughly 12.0x more expensive compared to Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite for input tokens and roughly 10.0x more expensive for output tokens.
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | |
|---|---|---|
Input Token Cost Cost per million input tokens | $3.00 per million tokens | $0.25 per million tokens |
Output Token Cost Cost per million output tokens | $15.00 per million tokens | $1.50 per million tokens |
Web Search Cost Additional cost for each web search operation | $0.01 per search | $0.014 per search |
Cache Read Cost Cost to reuse cached input tokens | $0.30 per million tokens | $0.02 per million tokens |
Cache Write Cost Cost to write input tokens to the cache | $3.75 per million tokens | $0.08 per million tokens |
1-Hour Cache Write Cost Cost to cache input tokens for one hour | $6.00 per million tokens | Not specified |
Reasoning Token Cost Cost for internal reasoning tokens | Not specified | $1.50 per million tokens |
Image Input Cost Additional cost for each image input | Not specified | $0.00000025 per image |
Audio Input Cost Additional cost for audio input | Not specified | $0.0000005 per unit |
Audio Cache Cost Cost to reuse cached audio input tokens | Not specified | $0.05 per million tokens |
Benchmarks
Compare relevant benchmarks between Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite.
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Overall model quality across independent evaluations | 47.2 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Coding Index Programming performance across independent evaluations | 63 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Agentic Index Ability to complete multi-step agentic tasks | 40.8 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Best Design Arena Score Highest human-preference Elo score across design arenas | 1,315 Elo (#12 in Game Dev (60.2% win rate)) | Benchmark not available. |
At a Glance
Quick overview of what makes Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite unique.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 by Anthropic understands both text and images, can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Premium pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output tokens. Includes built-in content moderation for safer outputs. Released February 17th, 2026.Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite by Google understands both text and images, handles audio, analyzes video, can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Very affordable at $0.25/M input and $1.50/M output tokens. Released May 7th, 2026.Explore More Comparisons
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Compare Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite with:
🚀Programming
Best models for coding and development
🎨Creative & Roleplay
Models optimized for creative writing
📢Marketing
Content creation and marketing tasks
💻Technology
Technical analysis and explanations
🔬Science
Scientific research and analysis
🌐Translation
Multilingual translation tasks