Choose Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) if…
- you generate long outputs in one go — up to 128K tokens (about 96,000 words) per response
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) vs Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash
Neither wins outright: Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) is the pick when you generate long outputs in one go, Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash when cost matters at scale.
Key numbers
| Spec | Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $2.50 | $0.82 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $12.50 | $4.13 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $5.00 | $1.65 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 10% | 30% |
| Context window | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) | 1.0M tokens (~1,573 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 69% | 80% |
| 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 | 2026-02-04 | 2026-09-02 |
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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 Opus 4.6 (batch) | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $438 | $144 | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash saves $293 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $425 | $140 | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash saves $285 |
| 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) | $450 | $149 | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash saves $302 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $275 | $90.75 | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash saves $184 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $138 | $45.38 | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash saves $92.13 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) | Google: Gemini 3.8 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 Opus 4.6 (batch): price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-08-07.
- Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash: input price raised 9% ($0.75 → $0.82/1M), output price raised 9% ($3.75 → $4.13/1M) on 2026-10-16.
| Date | Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-16 | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash | $0.82 | $4.13 |
Which should you choose?
Choose Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash if…
- cost matters at scale — it is 67% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($144 vs $438 a month for 50,000 support chats)
- you need audio input — to take speech or audio directly; Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) does not advertise it
- you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) does not advertise it
- you want the newer model — released 2026-09-02, 7 months after the other
Frequently asked questions
Is Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) better than Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Neither wins outright: Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) is the pick when you generate long outputs in one go, Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash when cost matters at scale. In short: Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) when you generate long outputs in one go; Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash when cost matters at scale, you need audio input, you need seed (reproducible sampling), you want the newer model.
Which is cheaper, Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) or Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash is cheaper: $1.65 vs $5.00 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 67% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $144 against $438.
How much do Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) and Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash cost per million tokens?
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) costs $2.50 per 1M input tokens and $12.50 per 1M output tokens; Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.82 input and $4.13 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) or Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash: 1.0M tokens, about 1,573 pages, against 1M (about 1,500 pages) for Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch).
Do Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) and Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch): yes, Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash: yes. JSON-schema structured output — Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch): yes, Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash: yes.
Can Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) or Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash read images?
Yes, both accept image input.
Is Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) or Google: Gemini 3.8 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 Opus 4.6 (batch) and Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) can write up to 128K tokens (about 96,000 words) per response; Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash up to 66K (about 49,200 words).
When were Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) and Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash released?
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) was listed on 2026-02-04; Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash on 2026-09-02.
Has the price of Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) or Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash changed?
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch): price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-08-07. Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash: input price raised 9% ($0.75 → $0.82/1M), output price raised 9% ($3.75 → $4.13/1M) on 2026-10-16.
About the two models
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch)
Opus 4.6 is Anthropic’s strongest model for coding and long-running professional tasks. It is built for agents that operate across entire workflows rather than single prompts, making it especially effective...
Full Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.6 (batch) specs →Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash
Gemini 3.8 Flash is Google's most intelligent Flash model with significant gains from 3.7 Flash across software engineering, agentic tasks, and multi-step reasoning.
Full Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash specs →