Choose Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 if…
- you generate long outputs in one go — up to 128K tokens (about 96,000 words) per response
Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 vs Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash
Neither wins outright: Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 is the pick when you generate long outputs in one go, Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash when cost matters at scale.
Key numbers
| Spec | Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $10.00 | $0.75 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $50.00 | $3.75 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $20.00 | $1.50 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 3% | 31% |
| Context window | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) | 1.0M tokens (~1,573 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 69% | 81% |
| Max output per response | 128K tokens (~96,000 words) | 66K tokens (~49,200 words) |
| Input types | text, image, file | text, image, video, file, audio |
| Output types | text | text |
| Free variant | No | No |
| Listed since | 2026-09-01 | 2026-07-21 |
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What it costs for real workloads
Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.
| Workload (per month) | Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $1,750 | $131 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash saves $1,619 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $1,700 | $127 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash saves $1,573 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens) | $1,800 | $135 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash saves $1,665 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $1,100 | $82.50 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash saves $1,018 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $550 | $41.25 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash saves $509 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash | What it lets you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool / function calling | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | call your APIs and run agent loops |
| Structured output (JSON schema) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | return JSON that validates against your schema |
| Reasoning / thinking mode | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems |
| Image input | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | read screenshots, charts and scanned pages |
| Audio input | — | ✓ Yes | take speech or audio directly |
| File / PDF input | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | accept documents without your own parsing step |
| Image output | — | — | generate images, not just text |
| Built-in web search | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | answer from live web results |
| Seed (reproducible sampling) | — | ✓ Yes | repeat a generation for tests and evals |
| Log-probabilities | — | — | read token confidence for classification and scoring |
From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.
Price history
- Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-09-02.
- Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash: input price cut 50% ($1.50 → $0.75/1M), output price cut 50% ($7.50 → $3.75/1M) on 2026-08-14.
| Date | Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-14 | Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash | $0.75 | $3.75 |
Which should you choose?
Choose Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash if…
- cost matters at scale — it is 93% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($131 vs $1,750 a month for 50,000 support chats)
- you need audio input — to take speech or audio directly; Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 does not advertise it
- you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 does not advertise it
Frequently asked questions
Is Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 better than Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Neither wins outright: Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 is the pick when you generate long outputs in one go, Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash when cost matters at scale. In short: Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 when you generate long outputs in one go; Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash when cost matters at scale, you need audio input, you need seed (reproducible sampling).
Which is cheaper, Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 or Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash is cheaper: $1.50 vs $20.00 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 93% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $131 against $1,750.
How much do Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 and Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash cost per million tokens?
Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 costs $10.00 per 1M input tokens and $50.00 per 1M output tokens; Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 input and $3.75 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 or Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash: 1.0M tokens, about 1,573 pages, against 1M (about 1,500 pages) for Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1.
Do Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 and Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1: yes, Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash: yes. JSON-schema structured output — Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1: yes, Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash: yes.
Can Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 or Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash read images?
Yes, both accept image input.
Is Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 or Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash free to use?
No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.
What is the maximum output length of Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 and Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 can write up to 128K tokens (about 96,000 words) per response; Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 66K (about 49,200 words).
When were Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 and Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash released?
Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 was listed on 2026-09-01; Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash on 2026-07-21.
Has the price of Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 or Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash changed?
Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-09-02. Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash: input price cut 50% ($1.50 → $0.75/1M), output price cut 50% ($7.50 → $3.75/1M) on 2026-08-14.
About the two models
Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1
Claude Fable 5.1 improves on Claude Fable 5 across the board, with the biggest gains in agentic coding, long-running agentic workflows, and knowledge work: long code refactors, front-end and visual...
Full Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 specs →Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash is a high-efficiency model from Google for coding, agentic workflows, and web and app development. It is designed to produce polished outputs with fewer unnecessary edits and...
Full Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash specs →