Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Claude 3 Opus vs Gemini 3.6 Flash benchmark

Name: Claude 3 Opus vs Gemini 3.6 Flash AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Claude 3 Opus (Anthropic) and Gemini 3.6 Flash (Google) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, Gemini 3.6 Flash is ahead by 258 points (1,506 vs 1,248; seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, Gemini 3.6 Flash resolves 70.8% versus 38.4% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). Gemini 3.6 Flash streams faster (198 tok/s) while Gemini 3.6 Flash is the cheaper output token ($3.75/1M). Gemini 3.6 Flash has the larger context window (1M tokens). Every cell below is a dated snapshot from a named public source — we do not invent missing scores, and we do not run SWE-bench ourselves.

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Anthropic

Claude 3 Opus

Original Claude 3 flagship. Kept so opus 3 vs later Opus and vs GPT-4o still resolve.

Elo 1,248$75/1M out

Google

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Google Jul 21 workhorse. Now shares the 3.7 Flash introductory $0.75/$3.75 rate through Dec 31 2026.

Elo 1,506$3.75/1M out

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Model A

Model B

Quick vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude 3 Opus (0)vsGemini 3.6 Flash (10)

Claude 3 Opus: 0W (0%)Overall: Gemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: 10W (100%)

← Claude 3 OpusGemini 3.6 Flash →

Gemini 3.6 Flash (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,248vs1,506

Coding Elo

—vs1,514

SWE-bench

38.4%vs70.8%

LiveBench

46.2%vs67.2%

GPQA Diamond

50.4%vs79.6%

Claude 3 Opus: 0WGemini 3.6 Flash: 5W

Gemini 3.6 Flash (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

48 tok/svs198 tok/s

Time to first token

420 msvs92 ms

Claude 3 Opus: 0WGemini 3.6 Flash: 2W

Gemini 3.6 Flash (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$75/1Mvs$3.75/1M

Input price

$15/1Mvs$0.75/1M

Context window

200kvs1M

Claude 3 Opus: 0WGemini 3.6 Flash: 3W

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect

Percentile 0–100

Dimensional AdvantageGemini 3.6 Flash 6/6

Preference Elo

Gemini 3.6 Flash

258 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

Gemini 3.6 Flash

150 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

Gemini 3.6 Flash

$71.25/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

1,248

EloHigh is better

1,506+21%

Code Elo

High is better

—

Code EloHigh is better

1,514

LiveBench

High is better

46.2%

LiveBenchHigh is better

67.2%+45%

SWE-bench

High is better

38.4%

SWE-benchHigh is better

70.8%+84%

GPQA

High is better

50.4%

GPQAHigh is better

79.6%+58%

TTFT

Low is better

420 ms

TTFTLow is better

92 ms+357%

Speed

High is better

48 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

198 tok/s+313%

In $

Low is better

$15/1M

In $Low is better

$0.75/1M+1900%

Out $

Low is better

$75/1M

Out $Low is better

$3.75/1M+1900%

Context

High is better

200k

ContextHigh is better

1M+424%

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs based on published $/1M tokens.

Save up to 95% with Gemini 3.6 Flash

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

Claude 3 Opus$1,650.00 / mo

In: $525.00Out: $1125.00

Gemini 3.6 Flash$82.50 / mo

In: $26.25Out: $56.25

Estimated Cost Delta

Gemini 3.6 Flash is estimated to save $1,567.50/month ($18,810/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
Gemini 3.6 Flash:Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
Gemini 3.6 Flash:Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.
3
Gemini 3.6 Flash:Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGemini 3.6 Flash

Higher SWE-bench (70.8%).

High-volume chatGemini 3.6 Flash

Lower output list price ($3.75/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGemini 3.6 Flash

Lower TTFT (92 ms).

Long-document RAGGemini 3.6 Flash

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGemini 3.6 Flash

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Gemini 3.6 Flash).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Higher SWE-bench (70.8%).
High-volume chat	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Lower output list price ($3.75/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Lower TTFT (92 ms).
Long-document RAG	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Gemini 3.6 Flash).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

priceAug 13, 2026

Gemini 3.6 Flash (Jul 21) now shares the 3.7 intro rate

Jul 21 workhorse that inherited $0.75/$3.75 through year-end. Keep the row; 3.7 is the newer sibling.

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LIVE

Anthropic

Claude 3 Opus

Elo 1,248

LiveBench46.2%

SWE-bench38.4%

Speed48 tok/s

Output cost$75/1M

Google

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Elo 1,506

LiveBench67.2%

SWE-bench70.8%

Speed198 tok/s

Output cost$3.75/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude 3 Opus or Gemini 3.6 Flash?: Gemini 3.6 Flash has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,506). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Claude 3 Opus or Gemini 3.6 Flash?: Gemini 3.6 Flash leads SWE-bench at 70.8% vs 38.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Gemini 3.6 Flash output tokens are $3.75/1M versus $75/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Claude 3 Opus or Gemini 3.6 Flash?: Gemini 3.6 Flash has the lower time-to-first-token (92 ms vs 420 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?: Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts 1M tokens versus 200k.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude 3 Opus and Gemini 3.6 Flash Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Claude 3 Opus matchups →|All Gemini 3.6 Flash matchups →

Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Opus 4 (next opus)Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3 Flash (previous gemini-flash)Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3.7 Flash (next gemini-flash)Claude Opus 4.5 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash Claude Opus 4.6 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash

Claude 3 Opus vs Gemini 3.6 Flash benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude 3 Opus (0)vsGemini 3.6 Flash (10)

Claude 3 Opus: 0W (0%)Overall: Gemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: 10W (100%)

← Claude 3 OpusGemini 3.6 Flash →

Gemini 3.6 Flash (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,248vs1,506

Coding Elo

—vs1,514

SWE-bench

38.4%vs70.8%

LiveBench

46.2%vs67.2%

GPQA Diamond

50.4%vs79.6%

Claude 3 Opus: 0WGemini 3.6 Flash: 5W

Gemini 3.6 Flash (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

48 tok/svs198 tok/s

Time to first token

420 msvs92 ms

Claude 3 Opus: 0WGemini 3.6 Flash: 2W

Gemini 3.6 Flash (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$75/1Mvs$3.75/1M

Input price

$15/1Mvs$0.75/1M

Context window

200kvs1M

Claude 3 Opus: 0WGemini 3.6 Flash: 3W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGemini 3.6 Flash

Higher SWE-bench (70.8%).

High-volume chatGemini 3.6 Flash

Lower output list price ($3.75/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGemini 3.6 Flash

Lower TTFT (92 ms).

Long-document RAGGemini 3.6 Flash

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGemini 3.6 Flash

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Gemini 3.6 Flash).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Higher SWE-bench (70.8%).
High-volume chat	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Lower output list price ($3.75/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Lower TTFT (92 ms).
Long-document RAG	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Gemini 3.6 Flash).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude 3 Opus or Gemini 3.6 Flash?

Gemini 3.6 Flash has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,506). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, Claude 3 Opus or Gemini 3.6 Flash?

Gemini 3.6 Flash leads SWE-bench at 70.8% vs 38.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Gemini 3.6 Flash output tokens are $3.75/1M versus $75/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Claude 3 Opus or Gemini 3.6 Flash?

Gemini 3.6 Flash has the lower time-to-first-token (92 ms vs 420 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.

Which has the larger context window?

Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts 1M tokens versus 200k.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude 3 Opus and Gemini 3.6 Flash Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

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Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Gemini 3.6 Flash (Jul 21) now shares the 3.7 intro rate

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CompareLLM Matrix

Claude 3 Opus

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Gemini 3.6 Flash (Jul 21) now shares the 3.7 intro rate

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

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CompareLLM Matrix

Claude 3 Opus

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons