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Model comparison

Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3 Flash

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 19 shared benchmark results across 7 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

65.07/100
Margin
4.6pts
← winning
60.49/100
0 category wins1 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 4.6 #32 (Supported); Gemini 3 Flash #49 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 3 Flash share 19 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 14 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 4.6; 0 to Gemini 3 Flash.

Updated July 20, 2026
Shared results
19
Claude Sonnet 4.6 only
14
Gemini 3 Flash only
0
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Gemini 3 Flash only becomes the better choice if mathematics is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 19 shared benchmark results across 7 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 65.07 to 60.49. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $3.00 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.50 input / $3.00 output per 1M tokens for Gemini 3 Flash. That is roughly 5.0x on output cost alone. Gemini 3 Flash gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 3 Flash
CategoryClaude Sonnet 4.6ΔGemini 3 Flash
MathClaude Sonnet 4.626.4Margin→ 1.4Gemini 3 Flash27.8
AgenticClaude Sonnet 4.665.2MarginNo overlapGemini 3 FlashNot measured
CodingClaude Sonnet 4.669.1MarginNo overlapGemini 3 FlashNot measured
KnowledgeClaude Sonnet 4.666.0MarginNo overlapGemini 3 FlashNot measured
MultimodalClaude Sonnet 4.677.4MarginNo overlapGemini 3 FlashNot measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Claude Sonnet 4.6B · Gemini 3 Flash

  1. FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)

    Math
    Source ↗
    A 8.300%B 4.167%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 4.6Δ 4.1
    FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4): Claude Sonnet 4.6 scored 8.300%; Gemini 3 Flash scored 4.167%. Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins this benchmark.

  2. FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)

    Math
    Source ↗
    A 32.400%B 35.640%
    Winner: Gemini 3 FlashΔ 3.2
    FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3): Claude Sonnet 4.6 scored 32.400%; Gemini 3 Flash scored 35.640%. Gemini 3 Flash wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricClaude Sonnet 4.6Gemini 3 FlashComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensClaude Sonnet 4.6$3 input / $15 outputGemini 3 Flash$0.5 input / $3 outputGemini 3 Flash has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondClaude Sonnet 4.644 tok/sGemini 3 Flash159 tok/sGemini 3 Flash has the higher measured throughput.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenClaude Sonnet 4.61.48 sGemini 3 Flash1.19 sGemini 3 Flash reaches the first token sooner.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensClaude Sonnet 4.6200KGemini 3 Flash1MGemini 3 Flash lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 4.6Gemini 3 FlashResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 59.1%—Not comparable
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 72.1%—Not comparable
Claw-EvalSource 67.8%49.2%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
CyberGymSource 65.2%—Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 79.5%43.3%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
Gert LabsSource 62.92%56.63%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
OSWorld 2.0Source 8.3%—Not comparable
JobBenchSource 36.9%11.4%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
Coding
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 4.6Gemini 3 FlashResult
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 79.6%—Not comparable
SWE-RebenchSource 60.7%—Not comparable
React Native EvalsSource 80.6%—Not comparable
Vibe Code BenchSource 51.48%20.20%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
cursorBench31Source 48.8%—Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 46.9%49.9%Gemini 3 Flash leads
FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource 24.3%—Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 4.6Gemini 3 FlashResult
AA-LCRSource 57.7%48.0%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
CritPtSource 0.9%1.4%Gemini 3 Flash leads
Knowledge
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 4.6Gemini 3 FlashResult
GPQASource 89.9%—Not comparable
SuperGPQASource 95%—Not comparable
MMLU-ProSource 79.2%—Not comparable
HLESource 49%—Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 35.9%27.4%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 79.9%81.2%Gemini 3 Flash leads
AA-HLESource 13.2%14.1%Gemini 3 Flash leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -2.9%-3.6%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 38.0%45.5%Gemini 3 Flash leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 65.9%90.2%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
MathGemini 3 Flash wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 4.6Gemini 3 FlashResult
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 32.400%35.640%Gemini 3 Flash leads
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source 8.300%4.167%Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
Multimodal
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 4.6Gemini 3 FlashResult
CharXivSource 77.4%—Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 70.6%78.6%Gemini 3 Flash leads
Design Arena WebsiteSource 13171228Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads
Inst. Following
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 4.6Gemini 3 FlashResult
AA-IFBenchSource 41.2%55.1%Gemini 3 Flash leads
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemini 3 Flash?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 65.07 to 60.49. The biggest single separator in this matchup is FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4), where the scores are 8.300% and 4.167%.

Which is better for math, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Gemini 3 Flash?

Gemini 3 Flash has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 27.8 versus 26.4. Inside this category, FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4) is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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