Model comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 2.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Pro supports a wider range of input modalities, including audio and video, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 focuses on text and image interactions at higher operational costs.
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
The pragmatic default — Claude quality without Opus pricing.
Gemini 2.5 Pro
Google's bet on massive context and native multimodality.
Specs
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemini 2.5 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1.0M tokens↑ |
| Input $/1M tokens | $3.00 | $1.25↑ |
| Output $/1M tokens | $15.00 | $10.00↑ |
| Modalities | Text · Image | Text · Image · File · Audio · Video |
| Open weights | No | No |
How they differ
Input modalities
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports text and image inputs, focusing on simpler modality coverage.
Gemini 2.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Pro handles text, image, file, audio, and video inputs, offering broader multi-modal capabilities.
Cost profile
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Sonnet 4.6 charges $3.0 per 1M input tokens and $15.0 per 1M output tokens, resulting in higher costs for extensive tasks.
Gemini 2.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Pro charges $1.25 per 1M input tokens and $10.0 per 1M output tokens, making it more cost-effective overall.
Context handling
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has a context window of 1,000,000 tokens, suitable for processing long documents or conversations.
Gemini 2.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Pro has a slightly larger 1,048,576-token context window, enabling marginally longer sequential reasoning.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 — what sets it apart
- +Claude Sonnet 4.6 emphasizes high-interpretability output for narrow applications.
- +It is tailored for tasks focused on text and image inputs but lacks support for other modalities such as video and audio.
Gemini 2.5 Pro — what sets it apart
- +Gemini 2.5 Pro supports additional input types, including file, audio, and video data, offering versatility across diverse use cases.
- +Its multi-modal architecture enables applications that require integrated reasoning across varied media formats.
The most consequential difference is Gemini 2.5 Pro's superior multi-modal input support, allowing it to handle diverse data types not supported by Claude Sonnet 4.6.
Analysis synthesized from gpt-4o, llama-4-maverick, phi-4, etc.