Claude Haiku 5.5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
Official Anthropic and Google API prices and LMArena scores, checked 2026-10-18. Add up to 2 more models to compare 4.
Claude Haiku 5.5 costs less; Gemini 3.8 Flash wins more LMArena tasks.
Claude Haiku 5.5 is 1.5x cheaper on input and output. Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 6 points higher for agent tasks. Across 2 shared LMArena tasks, Gemini 3.8 Flash leads 1 to 0 (1 tied). A medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) costs $22.50 on Claude Haiku 5.5 and $33.75 on Gemini 3.8 Flash.
- Pick Claude Haiku 5.5 if you want the lower bill ($22.50 vs $33.75 for a medium month).
- Pick Gemini 3.8 Flash if you care most about agent tasks (+6).
Medium: 20M input + 5M output tokens a month at list price (short-context rate, no caching or batch discounts).
Marked side is better: lower for prices, higher for context and scores. Bars are scaled to the larger of the two.
| Spec | Claude Haiku 5.5 | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M tokens | ||
| Input | $0.50 | $0.75 |
| Cached input | None | $0.075 |
| Output | $2.50 | $3.75 |
| Blend 3:1 | $1 | $1.50 |
| Sample month, medium | $22.50 | $33.75 |
| Context | ||
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Quality (LMArena, out of 100) | ||
| Coding | 22/100 #15 of 23 | 22/100 #14 of 23 |
| Chat | Not ranked | 52/100 #5 of 25 |
| Creative writing | Not ranked | 57/100 #3 of 25 |
| Roleplay and characters | Not ranked | 37/100 #3 of 25 |
| Reasoning and math | Not ranked | 88/100 #4 of 24 |
| Vision | Not ranked | 74/100 #5 of 21 |
| Long documents | Not ranked | Not ranked |
| Cheap bulk and agents | 48/100 #18 of 23 | 54/100 #12 of 23 |
| Details | ||
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| API model id | claude-haiku-5.5 | gemini-3.8-flash |
| Notes | Rate for prompts up to 100K tokens. | Through Dec 31, 2026. From Jan 1, 2027: $1.50 in, $7.50 out. |
| Sources | ||
| Last checked | 2026-10-18 | 2026-10-18 |
| Official pricing | Anthropic pricing | Google pricing |
Plans from data checked hourly against each vendor's official pricing page. Vendors state limits in different units, so we quote them as published. Team and enterprise plans are per seat.
API prices in USD per 1M tokens from each provider's official pricing page. Blend 3:1 = (3 x input + output) / 4. Sample month = stated input and output tokens at the list price, no caching. Quality: relative score out of 100 on each LMArena leaderboard (100 = top model we price on that board, n/a = not ranked there), data licensed CC BY 4.0. See how we pick.
Where each one ranks on LMArena
Relative score out of 100 on each leaderboard (100 = the top model we price there), with the rank among the models from our API price table that appear on that board.
- Coding (Code Arena): Claude Haiku 5.5 #15 of 23 (22/100), Gemini 3.8 Flash #14 of 23 (22/100)
- Chat (Text Arena): Claude Haiku 5.5 not ranked, Gemini 3.8 Flash #5 of 25 (52/100)
- Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing): Claude Haiku 5.5 not ranked, Gemini 3.8 Flash #3 of 25 (57/100)
- Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn): Claude Haiku 5.5 not ranked, Gemini 3.8 Flash #3 of 25 (37/100)
- Reasoning and math (Text Arena math): Claude Haiku 5.5 not ranked, Gemini 3.8 Flash #4 of 24 (88/100)
- Vision (Vision Arena): Claude Haiku 5.5 not ranked, Gemini 3.8 Flash #5 of 21 (74/100)
- Long documents (Document Arena): Claude Haiku 5.5 not ranked, Gemini 3.8 Flash not ranked
- Cheap bulk and agents (Agent Arena): Claude Haiku 5.5 #18 of 23 (48/100), Gemini 3.8 Flash #12 of 23 (54/100)
Pricing details from the official pages
Claude Haiku 5.5 lists $0.50 input, $2.50 output per 1M tokens on Anthropic pricing. Gemini 3.8 Flash lists $0.75 input, $3.75 output, $0.075 cached input per 1M tokens on Google pricing. Prices checked 2026-10-18.
- Claude Haiku 5.5: Rate for prompts up to 100K tokens.
- Gemini 3.8 Flash: Through Dec 31, 2026. From Jan 1, 2027: $1.50 in, $7.50 out.
Sample monthly bill at list price, no caching: Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $2.25 vs $3.38. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $22.50 vs $33.75. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $225 vs $337.50.
FAQ
Is Claude Haiku 5.5 cheaper than Gemini 3.8 Flash?
Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.50 input and $2.50 output per 1M tokens; Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75 and $3.75. For a medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) Claude Haiku 5.5 is cheaper: $22.50 vs $33.75.
Which is better for coding, Claude Haiku 5.5 or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
On LMArena's Code Arena Claude Haiku 5.5 scores 22/100 (#15 of 23) and Gemini 3.8 Flash 22/100 (#14 of 23), so they tie.
Which has the bigger context window?
Claude Haiku 5.5: 1M tokens. Gemini 3.8 Flash: 1M tokens. Both list the same window.
How much do Claude Haiku 5.5 and Gemini 3.8 Flash cost per month?
Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $2.25 vs $3.38. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $22.50 vs $33.75. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $225 vs $337.50. Pick your own token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
Where do these numbers come from?
Prices come from each provider's official pricing page, checked daily. Quality is the relative score on the LMArena leaderboard dataset, licensed CC BY 4.0. Where a model is not ranked we show n/a.