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Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 5
Of the 2 public leaderboards that rate both, Gemini 3.5 Flash scores higher on 1 and Claude Sonnet 5 on 1. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Gemini 3.5 Flash is at 37.7 and Claude Sonnet 5 at 21.8 (out of 100). On each maker's API, Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.50 / $9 per 1M tokens (input / output) and Claude Sonnet 5 $2 / $10.
Scores as published by each board; table composed November 8, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Claude Sonnet 5 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,499.1 | 1,539.1 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 76.7 | 60.6 | Gemini 3.5 Flash |
Raw scores are each board's own scale, so compare within a row, not across rows. Full table: the bench index.
For coding
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Gemini 3.5 Flash is at 32.3 (#34 of 45) and Claude Sonnet 5 at 42 (#24). Gemini 3.5 Flash scores higher on 1 of the 2 coding boards that rate both and Claude Sonnet 5 on 1.
| Coding board | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Claude Sonnet 5 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena · Coding | 1,492.6 | 1,483.5 |
| Vals Vibe Code Bench | 48.7 | 81.3 |
Gemini 3.5 Flash at a glance
- Developer
- Status
- Live since May 19, 2026
- API price
- $1.50 input / $9 output per 1M tokens · Google, gemini-3.5-flash
- Context window
- 1.05M tokens
Live — preview since I/O, on OpenRouter · deprecated by Google Oct 8: no longer selectable in AI Studio, API requests to gemini-3.5-flash auto-route to gemini-3.6-flash, and the endpoint is not shutting down (Gemini API changelog + deprecations page, read Oct 26).
Claude Sonnet 5 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since June 30, 2026
- API price
- $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-sonnet-5
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Shipped Jun 30.
Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 5: quick answers
Which is better, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Claude Sonnet 5?
It depends on what you measure. Of the 2 public leaderboards that rate both, Gemini 3.5 Flash scores higher on 1 and Claude Sonnet 5 on 1. Gemini 3.5 Flash's widest lead is on SimpleBench; Claude Sonnet 5's widest lead is on LMArena. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Gemini 3.5 Flash is at 37.7 and Claude Sonnet 5 at 21.8 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Sonnet 5. It went live on June 30, 2026, 42 days after Gemini 3.5 Flash (May 19, 2026).
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Claude Sonnet 5?
Gemini 3.5 Flash is cheaper on both input and output. On each vendor's own API, Gemini 3.5 Flash is $1.50 input / $9 output per million tokens and Claude Sonnet 5 is $2 input / $10 output per million tokens. Prices as published in the models.dev catalog, as of 2026-11-08.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Claude Sonnet 5?
Gemini 3.5 Flash, at 1.05M tokens against Claude Sonnet 5's 1M, as each vendor lists it.
How do Gemini 3.5 Flash and Claude Sonnet 5 compare for coding?
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Gemini 3.5 Flash is at 32.3 (#34 of 45) and Claude Sonnet 5 at 42 (#24). Gemini 3.5 Flash scores higher on 1 of the 2 coding boards that rate both and Claude Sonnet 5 on 1.
Who makes Gemini 3.5 Flash and Claude Sonnet 5?
Gemini 3.5 Flash is from Google; Claude Sonnet 5 is from Anthropic.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed November 8, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
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Also: the bench index · API pricing · what a workload costs on each · the wire