API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs 🔥Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview

Pick Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when budget and context both matter.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-14T00:27:25Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is estimated at $8 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $2.5 (23.8% lower).

Cost-first pickGemini 3.1 Pro Preview

Context-first pickGemini 3.1 Pro Preview

Sample savings$2.523.8%

10x traffic gap$25

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $25. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cheaper input Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview $3 vs $2 / 1M

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is $1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (33.3% lower; 1.5x difference).

Cheaper output Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview $15 vs $12 / 1M

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is $3 cheaper per 1M output tokens (20% lower; 1.25x difference).

Larger context Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview 1M vs 1.05M

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview has 48.58K more context (1.05x larger).

Sample workload Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview $10.5 vs $8

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is $2.5 cheaper on the standard workload (23.8% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Claude Sonnet 4.6 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview has the lower input price; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview has the lower output price; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and $8 for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview.

Best Fit

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Choose Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is estimated at $8 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $2.5 (23.8% lower).
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is $2.5 cheaper on the standard workload (23.8% lower).
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is $1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (33.3% lower; 1.5x difference).
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is $3 cheaper per 1M output tokens (20% lower; 1.25x difference).
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview has 48.58K more context (1.05x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic)	🔥Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview (Google)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$3	$2
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$15	$12
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$10.5	$8
Context Window	1M	1.05M
Release Date	2026-02-17	2026-02-19
Popularity Rank current rank	#2	#20

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is estimated at $8 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $2.5 (23.8% lower).
High-volume input processing	Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

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Provider catalogs

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Anthropic catalog

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Google catalog

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