Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash
The fast, low-cost tier of each family compared across price, context, multimodal input, coding standing, and speed.
Updated August 28, 2026 · Independent comparison — Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash are separate products.
Claude Haiku 4.5
Anthropic's fastest, most cost-effective model
Claude Haiku 4.5 is Anthropic's fastest and most cost-effective model, built for high-volume and latency-sensitive work. It carries a 200K-token context window and up to 64K output, supports vision and extended thinking, and is the cheaper of the two here at $1/$5 per million tokens with a $0.10 cache-read rate. Its model ID is claude-haiku-4-5-20251001, and it runs on the Claude API, Claude apps, Bedrock, Vertex, and Foundry.
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Google's fast, low-cost multimodal Flash tier
Gemini 3.5 Flash is Google's fast, low-cost tier, positioned as near-Pro coding and reasoning at Flash-tier price and speed. Its headline advantages are scale and modality: a roughly 1M-token context window (1,048,576), up to 65,536 output tokens, and native input across text, image, video, audio, and PDF. It costs $1.50/$9 per million tokens (cache read $0.15; Batch/Flex $0.75/$4.50), and it has a free tier, though free-tier data is used to improve Google's products. Note that Google has since shipped newer Gemini 3.6 and 3.7 Flash models that are cheaper on output — worth checking if the very latest Flash economics matter to you.
Bottom line
The fast, low-cost tier of each family compared across price, context, multimodal input, coding standing, and speed. Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 if you want the lowest price — $1/$5 per million tokens; choose Gemini 3.5 Flash if you need a ~1M-token context — 5x Haiku's 200K — for monorepos or long documents.
Context & Limits
| Feature | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemini 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 200K | 1M (1,048,576 tokens) |
| Max output tokens | 64K | 65,536 (~64K) |
| Multimodal input | Text + image | Text, image, video, audio, PDF |
| Tool calling / function calling | ✓ | ✓ |
Pricing (per 1M tokens)
| Feature | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemini 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $1.00 | $1.50 |
| Output | $5.00 | $9.00 |
| Cached input read | $0.10 | $0.15 |
| Batch / Flex pricing | 50% off | $0.75 / $4.50 |
| Free tier | ✗ | Yes (free-tier data trains Google products) |
Coding & Agentic Standing
| Feature | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemini 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Fastest, cheapest Claude; strong for its tier on direct coding | Near-Pro coding and reasoning at Flash-tier cost and speed |
| Agentic / tool use | Efficient at focused, single-file tasks and code completion | Suited to multi-step, tool-heavy, long-context agent workflows |
| Vendor benchmark suites reported | SWE-bench Verified | Terminal-Bench, GPQA Diamond, TAU-bench |
| Directly comparable head-to-head score | No shared vendor-published benchmark | No shared vendor-published benchmark |
Access & Openness
| Feature | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemini 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Open weights | ✗ | ✗ |
| Where you can run it | Claude API, Claude apps, Bedrock, Vertex, Foundry | Gemini API (free + paid), AI Studio, Vertex AI |
| Structured outputs (JSON schema) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Newer siblings | Claude 5 family (Sonnet/Opus/Fable) for higher tiers | Gemini 3.6 / 3.7 Flash (cheaper on output) |
Speed & Fit
| Feature | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemini 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Speed tier | Fastest, cheapest Claude | Fast, low-latency Flash tier |
| Best-fit workload | High-volume, latency-sensitive, cost-capped tasks and code completion | Long-context, multimodal, multi-file, and tool-driven agent workflows |
| Context advantage | 200K is ample for most single-file tasks | ~1M context fits monorepos, long docs, and video/audio |
The Verdict
Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 if...
- ✓You want the lowest price — $1/$5 per million tokens
- ✓Your work is focused code completion and single-file tasks
- ✓You need the fastest, cheapest option for high-volume or latency-sensitive workloads
- ✓You're in the Anthropic ecosystem (Claude apps, Bedrock, Vertex, Foundry)
Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash if...
- ✓You need a ~1M-token context — 5x Haiku's 200K — for monorepos or long documents
- ✓Your inputs are multimodal: image, video, audio, or PDF alongside text
- ✓You want a free tier for prototyping (accepting that free-tier data trains Google products)
- ✓You live in the Google/Vertex ecosystem
- ✓You may want to move to the even-cheaper Gemini 3.6 / 3.7 Flash
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash?
Claude Haiku 4.5 is Anthropic's fastest and most cost-effective model, built for high-volume and latency-sensitive work. Gemini 3.5 Flash is Google's fast, low-cost tier, positioned as near-Pro coding and reasoning at Flash-tier price and speed.
How much do Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash cost?
Claude Haiku 4.5: $1.00. Gemini 3.5 Flash: $1.50. See the pricing table above for full plan details.
Should I choose Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemini 3.5 Flash?
Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 if you want the lowest price — $1/$5 per million tokens. Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash if you need a ~1M-token context — 5x Haiku's 200K — for monorepos or long documents.
1DevToolRun either fast model from one workspace
Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash are both closed models reached through an agent or API. 1DevTool runs Claude Code and Gemini CLI side by side (plus Codex) in persistent terminals, so you can drive Haiku 4.5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash from the same workspace on your own keys — no lock-in to either lab. It adds a built-in HTTP client, 13-engine database client, and embedded browser, all wired into Send-to-AI. One-time $29, no subscription.