API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs 🔥Gemma 4 31B

Pick Gemma 4 31B for lower cost; pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Gemma 4 31B for lower cost; pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 31B is estimated at $0.3 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $10.2 (97.1% lower).

Cost-first pickGemma 4 31B
Context-first pickClaude Sonnet 4.6
Sample savings$10.297.1%
10x traffic gap$101.95

Claude Sonnet 4.6 has more context, but Gemma 4 31B saves $10.2 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $101.95. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cheaper input Gemma 4 31B $3 vs $0.12 / 1M

Gemma 4 31B is $2.88 cheaper per 1M input tokens (96% lower; 25x difference).

Cheaper output Gemma 4 31B $15 vs $0.37 / 1M

Gemma 4 31B is $14.63 cheaper per 1M output tokens (97.5% lower; 40.5x difference).

Larger context Claude Sonnet 4.6 1M vs 262.14K

Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).

Sample workload Gemma 4 31B $10.5 vs $0.3

Gemma 4 31B is $10.2 cheaper on the standard workload (97.1% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 Calculating… Estimated API cost
Gemma 4 31B 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

Gemma 4 31B has the lower input price; Gemma 4 31B has the lower output price; Claude Sonnet 4.6 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Gemma 4 31B 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 $0.3 for Gemma 4 31B.

Best Fit

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Gemma 4 31B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 31B is estimated at $0.3 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $10.2 (97.1% lower).
  • Gemma 4 31B is $10.2 cheaper on the standard workload (97.1% lower).
  • Gemma 4 31B is $2.88 cheaper per 1M input tokens (96% lower; 25x difference).
  • Gemma 4 31B is $14.63 cheaper per 1M output tokens (97.5% lower; 40.5x difference).
  • Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
Feature🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6
(Anthropic)		🔥Gemma 4 31B
(Google)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M		$3$0.12
Completion Price
per 1M tokens		$15$0.37
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output		$10.5$0.3
Context Window1M262.14K
Release Date
Popularity Rank
current rank		#3#18

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionGemma 4 31BOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 31B is estimated at $0.3 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $10.2 (97.1% lower).
High-volume input processingGemma 4 31BLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsGemma 4 31BLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workClaude Sonnet 4.6A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps
  • Claude 3 Haiku can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.88.
  • Claude 3.5 Haiku can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.8.
  • Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.
  • Claude Haiku 4.5 can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.
Larger context near this budget
  • Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
  • Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
  • Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
  • GPT-5.4 offers 1.05M context with $10 sample workload cost.

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models ranked by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

Open cheapest models

Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

Open largest context models

Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

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Anthropic catalog

Review all tracked Anthropic models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

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Google catalog

Check other Google models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open Google models
Claude Sonnet 4.6

Sonnet 4.6 is Anthropic's most capable Sonnet-class model yet, with frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work. It excels at iterative development, complex codebase navigation, end-to-end project management with...

Gemma 4 31B

Gemma 4 31B Instruct is Google DeepMind's 30.7B dense multimodal model supporting text and image input with text output. Features a 256K token context window, configurable thinking/reasoning mode, native function...