Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite are both current production-tier models. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is meaningfully cheaper at $0.25 / $1.5 per 1M. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite has a 1M context window — about 5× the 200k of Claude Haiku 4.5. Claude Haiku 4.5 leads on coding, reasoning, general knowledge. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite leads on long-context retrieval, multilingual.
Specs side by side
| Metric | Anthropic Claude Haiku 4.5 | Google Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Input price (per 1M) | $1 | $0.25 |
| Output price (per 1M) | $5 | $1.5 |
| Context window | 200k tokens | 1M tokens |
| Speed tier | fast | ultra |
| Open weights | No | No |
| EU region | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | No | Google AI Studio |
| Prompt caching | Yes | No |
| Vision input | Yes | Yes |
| Extended thinking | No | No |
When to choose each
Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 if…
- HIPAA eligibility is required
- Coding is central to your workload
- Reasoning is central to your workload
Choose Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite if…
- Cost is a priority ($0.25 / $1.5 per 1M vs $1 / $5 per 1M)
- You need 1M context (5× more than Claude Haiku 4.5)
- You want a free tier for prototyping
- Long-context retrieval is central to your workload
- Multilingual is central to your workload
Benchmark delta
Claude Haiku 4.5 leads on
- Coding
- Reasoning
- General knowledge
- Instruction following
- Tool use
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite leads on
- Long-context retrieval
- Multilingual
FAQ — Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite — which is better?
Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite are both current production-tier models. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is meaningfully cheaper at $0.25 / $1.5 per 1M. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite has a 1M context window — about 5× the 200k of Claude Haiku 4.5. Claude Haiku 4.5 leads on coding, reasoning, general knowledge. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite leads on long-context retrieval, multilingual. The right pick depends on your use case — see "When to choose each" above for a data-driven decision.
How does Claude Haiku 4.5 pricing compare to Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite?
Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $1 / $5 per 1M vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite at $0.25 / $1.5 per 1M. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is cheaper on output tokens by roughly 233%. Both support prompt caching, which reduces effective cost by 80-90% on repeat system prompts.
Does Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite have the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite has a 1M-token context window — 5× the 200k context of Claude Haiku 4.5. Enough for entire codebases, books, or multi-document RAG.
Is there a free tier for Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite?
Claude Haiku 4.5: no — No free API tier; new accounts get starter credits. Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: yes — Reduced daily quota; most generous free tier of any frontier lab.
Which is better for coding — Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite?
Claude Haiku 4.5 leads on coding benchmarks (Claude Haiku 4.5: 82/100, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: 72/100). For production coding agents also weigh tool-use performance — Claude Haiku 4.5 scores 88, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite scores 76.