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Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Claude Opus 5.5
Claude Opus 5.5 scores higher than Gemini 4 Hydrogen on all 4 public leaderboards that rate both. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Gemini 4 Hydrogen is at 81.9 and Claude Opus 5.5 at 90.9 (out of 100). On each maker's API, Gemini 4 Hydrogen costs $1.50 / $7.50 per 1M tokens (input / output) and Claude Opus 5.5 $4 / $20.
Scores as published by each board; table composed November 13, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Gemini 4 Hydrogen | Claude Opus 5.5 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,704.2 | 1,814.7 | Claude Opus 5.5 |
| LiveBench global average (0-100) | 77 | 83.4 | Claude Opus 5.5 |
| Vals AI Vals Index accuracy % · weighted finance + coding tasks | 68.5 | 70.1 | Claude Opus 5.5 |
| Artificial Analysis intelligence index · measured runs only | 53.9 | 59.1 | Claude Opus 5.5 |
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 4 Hydrogen is at 76 (#10 of 48) and Claude Opus 5.5 at 90 (#3). Claude Opus 5.5 scores higher on all 3 coding boards that rate both.
| Coding board | Gemini 4 Hydrogen | Claude Opus 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena · Coding | 1,515.9 | 1,543.4 |
| LiveBench · Coding | 78.5 | 87.1 |
| Vals Vibe Code Bench | 87.8 | 90.3 |
Gemini 4 Hydrogen at a glance
- Developer
- Status
- Live since November 12, 2026
- API price
- $1.50 input / $7.50 output per 1M tokens · Google, gemini-4-hydrogen
- Context window
- 1.05M tokens
Live — Nov 12 · GA on the Gemini API as gemini-4-hydrogen (Google's release notes, Nov 12), free tier and paid tier, also in Google AI Studio and the default model for the Antigravity agent in Gemini Managed Agents · $1.50 / $7.50 per 1M, $0.075 cached (implicit caching only); Batch and Flex $0.75 / $3.75; Priority $2.70 / $13.50 · no introductory discount: the same as the SKU rows Google Cloud listed at 08:50 UTC · 1M unified context; 65,536 max output by default, up to 1M with long decode · text, image, video, audio and PDF in, text out · thinking levels low, medium, high (default) and a new xhigh · Google calls Gemini 3.8 Flash its 'previous-generation Flash model' ($0.75 / $3.75 intro through Dec 31, $1.50 / $7.50 from Jan 1) · our sweep fired at 17:46 UTC · before launch: codename reported since Oct 27, Business Insider (Nov 11) on staff testing, billing SKUs Nov 12 08:50 UTC · Nov 12 18:50 UTC: 54 on Artificial Analysis' Intelligence Index (Gemini 4 Hydrogen (Xhigh)), above Gemini 4 Argon (50) and GPT-6.1 Terra (51), one point under Claude Sonnet 5.5 (55); 54.3% on CursorBench at High, 12th of its listed settings.
Gemini 4 Hydrogen is live: Google's new everyday model costs $1.50 / $7.50 per 1M tokens, with a free tier and a 1M context
2026-11-12 · Google released Gemini 4 Hydrogen (gemini-4-hydrogen) on November 12 as generally available on the Gemini API, on the free tier and at $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $7.50 per 1M output tokens on the paid tier.
Gemini 4 Hydrogen appears in Google Cloud's price list at $1.50 input and $7.50 output per 1M tokens, before Google has announced it
2026-11-12 · Google Cloud's public SKU list now carries Gemini 4 Hydrogen under two services, the Gemini API and Vertex AI, before Google has announced the model. @Mr_Salio flagged the rows at 08:11 UTC on November 12, and ArtificialWatch read them on Google's SKU list at 08:50 UTC.
Claude Opus 5.5 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since September 22, 2026
- API price
- $4 input / $20 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-opus-5-5
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Live — Sep 22 · $4/$20 per MTok, down from Opus 5 at $5/$25 · 1M ctx / 128K out · adaptive thinking always on, default effort medium · cache reads 5% of base input · Anthropic now says start here for most workloads, and Opus 5 is legacy · fast mode (speed: 'fast', up to 2.5x the output tokens per second by Anthropic's figure) at $8 / $40 per MTok, double standard, left research preview Oct 15 with no waitlist, access request or beta header; on the Claude API and on Claude in Microsoft Foundry (Azure-hosted), not on Bedrock, Google Cloud, Claude Platform on AWS, the Batch API or Priority Tier; @ClaudeDevs says Google Cloud is coming soon (Anthropic's fast mode docs, read Oct 16).
AI models go live a median of 4 months after their knowledge ends: Claude Opus 5.5 knows up to June 2026, Gemini 4 Argon only to March
2026-11-06 · Of the 22 live AI models whose labs publish a knowledge cutoff, the median went live 4 months after its training data ends, by ArtificialWatch's count. The latest published cutoff we found is June 2026, for Anthropic's four current Claude models and OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Terra.
SemiAnalysis launches GDPx: Opus 5.5 leads at 12%, Gemini 4 Carbon close behind
2026-11-02 · SemiAnalysis released GDPx on November 2, a new agentic benchmark of 206 tasks across 11 domains, and the best model it tested scores 12%. Claude Opus 5.5 leads at 12.0, Gemini 4 Carbon is second at 10.9 and GPT-6 Astra third at 9.6. We read the leaderboard directly at gdpx.semianalysis.com.
Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Claude Opus 5.5: quick answers
Which is better, Gemini 4 Hydrogen or Claude Opus 5.5?
It depends on what you measure. Claude Opus 5.5 scores higher than Gemini 4 Hydrogen on all 4 public leaderboards that rate both. Claude Opus 5.5's widest lead is on LiveBench. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Gemini 4 Hydrogen is at 81.9 and Claude Opus 5.5 at 90.9 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Gemini 4 Hydrogen or Claude Opus 5.5?
Gemini 4 Hydrogen. It went live on November 12, 2026, 51 days after Claude Opus 5.5 (September 22, 2026).
Which is cheaper, Gemini 4 Hydrogen or Claude Opus 5.5?
Gemini 4 Hydrogen is cheaper on both input and output. On each vendor's own API, Gemini 4 Hydrogen is $1.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens and Claude Opus 5.5 is $4 input / $20 output per million tokens. Prices as published in the models.dev catalog, as of 2026-11-12.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 4 Hydrogen or Claude Opus 5.5?
Gemini 4 Hydrogen, at 1.05M tokens against Claude Opus 5.5's 1M, as each vendor lists it.
How do Gemini 4 Hydrogen and Claude Opus 5.5 compare for coding?
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Gemini 4 Hydrogen is at 76 (#10 of 48) and Claude Opus 5.5 at 90 (#3). Claude Opus 5.5 scores higher on all 3 coding boards that rate both.
Who makes Gemini 4 Hydrogen and Claude Opus 5.5?
Gemini 4 Hydrogen is from Google; Claude Opus 5.5 is from Anthropic.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed November 13, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
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