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Model comparison

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 20 shared benchmark results across 5 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

65.32/100
No comparison
N/A
2 category wins0 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 5 #29 (Estimated); Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite unranked (Not scored). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite share 20 comparable benchmark results. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 16 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 5; 1 to Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.

Updated July 21, 2026
Shared results
20
Claude Sonnet 5 only
16
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite only
1
Comparable categories
2 / 8

Treat this as a split decision. Claude Sonnet 5 makes more sense if coding is the priority; Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is the better fit if you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 20 shared benchmark results across 5 evidence categories; 2 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 5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite finish on the same BenchAlign overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The BenchAlign headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.

Claude Sonnet 5 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $10.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.30 input / $2.50 output per 1M tokens for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite. That is roughly 4.0x on output cost alone.

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 5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
CategoryClaude Sonnet 5ΔGemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
CodingClaude Sonnet 576.7Margin← 22.5Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite54.2
AgenticClaude Sonnet 581.9Margin← 18.5Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite63.4
ReasoningClaude Sonnet 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapGemini 3.5 Flash-Lite72.2
KnowledgeClaude Sonnet 557.4MarginNo overlapGemini 3.5 Flash-LiteNot measured
MultimodalClaude Sonnet 588.3MarginNo overlapGemini 3.5 Flash-LiteNot measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

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

More
A · Claude Sonnet 5B · Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

  1. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 80.4%B 54%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 26.4
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 80.4%; Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite scored 54%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  2. SWE-bench Pro

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 63.2%B 54.2%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 9
    SWE-bench Pro: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 63.2%; Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite scored 54.2%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  3. OSWorld-Verified

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 81.2%B 74%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 7.2
    OSWorld-Verified: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 81.2%; Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite scored 74%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

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

MetricClaude Sonnet 5Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensClaude Sonnet 5$2 input / $10 outputGemini 3.5 Flash-Lite$0.3 input / $2.5 outputGemini 3.5 Flash-Lite has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondClaude Sonnet 5Not availableGemini 3.5 Flash-LiteNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenClaude Sonnet 5Not availableGemini 3.5 Flash-LiteNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensClaude Sonnet 51MGemini 3.5 Flash-Lite1MListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 80.4%54%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
BrowseCompSource 84.7%—Not comparable
HLE w/ toolsSource 57.4%—Not comparable
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 81.2%74%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
GDPval-AASource 16071140Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA Agentic IndexSource 46.7%26.8%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
GDPval-AASource 55.4%32.0%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA BriefcaseSource 1388634Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA AutomationBenchSource 39.2%—Not comparable
AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource 44.7%—Not comparable
AA Harvey LABSource 90.1%—Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource 28.2%16.5%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
aaTerminalBench21Source 80.5%—Not comparable
CodingClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteResult
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 85.2%—Not comparable
SWE-bench ProSource 63.2%54.2%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
SWE MultilingualSource 78.3%—Not comparable
SWE MultimodalSource 28.1%—Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 80.4%54.0%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource 42.7%—Not comparable
cursorBench32Source 61.5%—Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 71.5%49.3%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-SciCodeSource 53.6%40.9%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
Reasoning
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteResult
AA-LCRSource 70.7%62.0%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
CritPtSource 16.9%0.0%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
MRCRv2Source —72.2%Not comparable
Knowledge
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteResult
HLESource 57.4%—Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource 43.2%—Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 53.4%36.5%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 91.1%83.8%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-HLESource 39.6%17.5%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 15.3%6.9%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 38.3%30.3%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 37.3%33.5%Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite leads
Multimodal
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteResult
CharXivSource 88.3%—Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 77%—Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 77.3%79.0%Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite leads
Design Arena WebsiteSource 1314—Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (3)

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5 or Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite?

Claude Sonnet 5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite are tied on the BenchAlign overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.

Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 76.7 versus 54.2. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 81.9 versus 63.4. Inside this category, AA Briefcase is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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