Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 2.5 Pro
Wins 5 of 7 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 7 areas
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Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the stronger all-rounder.Gemini 2.5 Pro is cheaper.
Scores updated · 32 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the seven areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- CodingWriting and fixing software50Claude Sonnet 4.65 of 5 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own40Claude Sonnet 4.64 of 4 tests
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking30Claude Sonnet 4.63 of 4 tests · 1 tie
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Sonnet 4.61 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10Claude Sonnet 4.61 of 1 test
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up22Even2 each
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video11Even1 each
Long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Gemini 2.5 Pro costs 38% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Sonnet 4.6 pulls ahead
- Finds hard-to-locate facts by browsing the webBrowseComp+64.8points ahead
- Abstract visual puzzles that people can solveARC-AGI-2+53.4points ahead
- Command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench 2.1+42.7points ahead
Where Gemini 2.5 Pro pulls ahead
- Short factual questions, answered correctlySimpleQA Verified+23.2points ahead
- Harder college exam questions with imagesMMMU-Pro+1.6points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 32 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Sonnet 4.6
- Terminal-Bench 2.1Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 42.771.228.5+42.7
- LMArena · WebDevClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 297 rating points15211224+297 rating
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 26.55326.5+26.5
- SWE-bench VerifiedClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 16.479.663.2+16.4
- SciCodeClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 3.850.146.3+3.8
AgentsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- BrowseCompClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 64.874.79.9+64.8
- GDPValClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 36.736.70+36.7
- τ-Bench V3 · BankingClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 24.734.49.7+24.7
- Terminal-Bench 4.0Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 330+3
ReasoningClaude Sonnet 4.6
- ARC-AGI-2Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 53.458.34.9+53.4
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 15.633.618+15.6
- GPQA DiamondClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 3.987.583.6+3.9
- CritPttie3.12.6tie
FactsEven
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 42.551.69.1+42.5
- SimpleQA VerifiedGemini 2.5 Pro by 23.232.856+23.2
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is betterGemini 2.5 Pro by 3.610.67+3.6
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 1.840.939+1.8
Images and chartsEven
- LMArena · VisionClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 20 rating points12831263+20 rating
- MMMU-ProGemini 2.5 Pro by 1.673.374.9+1.6
Following instructionsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- IFBenchClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 7.956.648.7+7.9
Other results11 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- ARC-AGI-1Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 498637+49
- AA Agentic IndexClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 29.633.13.5+29.6
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 28.512.2-16.4+28.5
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 21.675.754.1+21.6
- HLE (with tools)Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 18.446.828.4+18.4
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 16.36346.7+16.3
- AA IntelligenceClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 15.130.115+15.1
- frontiermath_tier_4_v1Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 4.18.34.2+4.1
- vectara_factual_consistencyGemini 2.5 Pro by 3.689.493+3.6
- vectara_avg_summary_lengthtie114.7106.4tie
- vectara_answer_ratetie99.999.1tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemini 2.5 Pro?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins five of the seven areas where both have results: coding, agents, reasoning, long documents and following instructions. Gemini 2.5 Pro wins none, but costs 38% less. They are level on facts and images and charts.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4.6. It wins 5 of the 5 coding tests both models report; Gemini 2.5 Pro wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $1.25 and $10.00. That makes Gemini 2.5 Pro about 38% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 32 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 21 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 11 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.