Claude Sonnet 4.6vs.Gemini 4 Carbon
Which one is better?
Gemini 4 Carbon is clearly ahead in the overall index.
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Rank 43 to 54
Gemini 4 Carbon
Rank 1 to 5
Claude Sonnet 4.6
slow
Gemini 4 Carbon
fairly fast
Claude Sonnet 4.6
expensive
Gemini 4 Carbon
Claude Sonnet 4.6
- Subscription
At Anthropic from €21.42 a month (Claude Pro). Through other providers from ≈ €6.36 a month (ElevenLabs Starter, with limited credits). 56 plans in Germany.
- Via API
$3 input, $15 output per 1M tokens, unchanged since our price tracking began on Aug 14, 2026.
- Note
- There is a successor: Claude Sonnet 5 (rank 35 to 43, $2 input, $10 output).
Gemini 4 Carbon
- Subscription
Subscriptions in Germany: n/a
- Via API
n/a (no API price known).
Overall index with data through Oct 29, 2026 · Prices from Oct 29, 2026 · Speed: measured by Artificial Analysis · Subscriptions as of Oct 24, 2026 · Subscription prices incl. VAT
Where is the difference?
Values from 0 to 100 per task area. We only name a winner when the gap is large enough and there are enough tests.
Sonnet 4.6 ahead: 0Gemini 4 Carbon ahead: 6level: 0too little data: 3of 9 areas
Show 1 more areas that do not count toward the overall index
See for yourself: same task, one attempt
The same prompt for both models. We show the latest attempt without fixes; it does not count toward the overall index.
Pelican on a bicycle
A community classic for free-form SVG drawing.
Claude Sonnet 4.6
The response reached the token limit. No complete recording is available.
Reasoning (requested): high
Current attempt
- Run date
- Oct 6, 2026
- API provider
- openrouter
- Requested API model
- anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6
- API model reported in response
- anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6
- Reasoning setting
- high
- Pinned endpoint
- Anthropic | anthropic/claude-4.6-sonnet-20260217
- Temperature
- Provider default
- Token limit including reasoning
- 8,192 tokens
- Test protocol
- community-visual-tests-v1
- Technical checks
- Failed
- Response time
- 106 s
Not yet visually reviewed. A successful recording does not confirm correct physics or full compliance with the prompt.
Earlier attempts (2)
- Oct 2, 2026API request failedReasoning setting: high
- Oct 1, 2026API request failedReasoning setting: high
Gemini 4 Carbon
Not tested yet
Prompt and test conditions
Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle
Token limit including reasoning: 8,192 tokens
Task origin (Simon Willison)SVG short test
There is no shared test round for this selection. Results from different rounds are not mixed.
All data side by side
The better value is bold. For the overall index only when the gap is clear.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Gemini 4 Carbon |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | ||
| Overall index0 to 100, higher is better | 15 | 96 |
| Rank | Rank 43 to 54 of 95 | Rank 1 to 5 of 95 |
| Price per 1M tokens | ||
| Inputwhat you send | $3 | n/a |
| Outputwhat the model writes | $15 | n/a |
| Speed | ||
| Tokens per second | 65 | 100 |
| Technical | ||
| Context windowhow much text the model reads at once | 1 M tokens≈ 1,500 A4 pages | 1 M tokens≈ 1,500 A4 pages |
| Knowledge cutoff | August 2025 | n/a |
| Released | February 2026 | n/a |
| Availability | Active | Limited access |
| Open weights | no | no |
- Gemini 4 Carbon, Announced introductory pricing: $2 input and $10 output per 1M tokens. Cached input receives a 95% discount, giving $0.10 per 1M tokens. This announcement does not establish an already available public API. Source
- Gemini 4 Carbon, Announced pricing after the introductory period: Afterward, $4 input and $20 output per 1M tokens. Google has not specified when the introductory period ends. Source
- Gemini 4 Carbon, Artificial Analysis pricing assumptions: Artificial Analysis calculates test costs using $4 input, $20 output, and $0.20 cached input per 1M tokens. These are the evaluator’s pricing assumptions, not confirmation of a publicly available API tariff. Source
Prices without caching or batch discounts · Page count as a rule of thumb from Artificial Analysis
Shared benchmarks
Single results from the same benchmark version, task and metric. A value is bold only with the same test setup and a clear gap.
No directly comparable result yet
No published benchmark for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 4 Carbon currently matches in version, task and metric. We therefore show no estimated or blended values.
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