Claude vs Gemini: plans, prices and benchmarks compared

Claude vs Gemini comes down to price ladders that line up almost exactly and a model gap that favors Claude on the current benchmarks. As of October 28, 2026, both have a free tier, a plan near $20 a month and top tiers from about $100. On Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5.0, Claude Opus 5.5 scores 58 and Google's Gemini 4 Argon scores 50.

This comparison is based on the products' docs and published results. We did not test either assistant ourselves.

Claude vs Gemini plans and prices

Prices below are from claude.com/pricing and gemini.google/subscriptions, both read on October 28, 2026.

Gemini's page shows a "$" sign for consumer prices without naming the currency. Google's AI Plus section lists only the Flash model but also says it includes Gemini 4 Argon, and the page does not resolve that conflict.

What each plan gets and how limits work

Neither company publishes a fixed message count for chat plans. Claude uses a rolling five-hour window plus weekly limits on paid plans. Pro gives at least 5 times the Free usage per session. Gemini says limits refresh every 5 hours until a weekly limit is reached, and you can buy AI credits to extend them.

The bundles differ more than the chat models. Claude's Pro plan adds Claude Code, Research, Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365 integration. Google AI Pro adds Gemini in Gmail, Docs and Vids, 5 TB of Google storage, YouTube Premium Lite, Google Home Premium and a 1M-token context window. If you already live in Google Workspace and Photos, the storage and app integration is most of the value. If you want a coding agent in the same subscription, Claude Pro includes one. We cover that in Is Claude Code free?.

For Gemini plans on their own, see Is Gemini free?. For how Gemini's plans line up against OpenAI's, see Gemini vs ChatGPT: plans, prices and limits.

Claude vs Gemini on benchmarks

Artificial Analysis released Intelligence Index v5 this week. Its home page, read on October 28, 2026, shows version 5.0 and a changelog entry dated October 27. Scores moved from the older version, so numbers in our earlier pieces will not match these. The model leaderboard gives no date beyond "Updated".

Cost per task is what Artificial Analysis paid to run its tests through the API. It is not what a subscriber pays. The Opus and Sonnet rows are listed on the leaderboard as "with fallback" entries; Haiku is not.

Three things stand out.

• Top score. Opus 5.5 at max effort is first overall at 58. Its closest listed rival on the page we read is OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra at 57. The best Gemini entry, Argon at high effort, scores 50, the same as Claude Fable 5.1 at xhigh.
• Like for like. Opus 5.5 at high effort scores 52 for $3.46 a task, against Argon's 50 for $3.84. That is close, and the effort settings are not identical across labs.
• Domain scores. Artificial Analysis's capability table ranks Opus 5.5 first in finance, strategy and operations, legal, healthcare, engineering and economics. Argon ranks between third and eighth in those same areas. In engineering it scores 57 to Opus's 65.

Gemini's strengths are speed at the low end and price: Flash-Lite outputs 461 tokens a second. But its score of 12 means it is a different kind of model from Opus. For a head-to-head on the two flagships, including list prices, read Gemini 4 Argon vs Opus 5.5. For how Claude compares with OpenAI's plans, see ChatGPT vs Claude: plans and benchmarks.

API prices

Claude's list prices per million tokens on claude.com/pricing, read October 28, 2026: Opus 5.5 at $4 input and $20 output, Sonnet 5.5 at $2 and $10, Haiku 5.5 at $0.10 and $0.50 for prompts up to 100K tokens, and Fable 5.1 at $10 and $50. Batch processing is 50% off. We did not read Google's Gemini API price list in this check. Our Argon vs Opus piece reports an introductory Argon price of $2 and $10 until November 30, 2026, then $4 and $20.

Which one to pick

Benchmarks favor Claude for hard reasoning and coding work. The plans favor Gemini for people who want storage, Google app integration and a $4.99 entry tier. These tests measure models, not the apps, and neither says how a plan feels after a week of daily use.

Watch two dates. Index scores will shift again as Artificial Analysis adds results under v5, and Argon's introductory API price is reported to end on November 30.

Frequently asked questions

Is Claude better than Gemini?

On Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5.0, read on October 28, 2026, Claude Opus 5.5 scores 58 and Gemini 4 Argon scores 50. That favors Claude for reasoning and coding. Gemini's plans bundle more storage and Google app features.

Is Claude or Gemini cheaper?

Gemini starts lower: Google AI Plus is $4.99 a month and Claude has no paid plan below Pro. At the main tier they are almost the same, $20 for Claude Pro and $19.99 for Google AI Pro. Both top tiers start near $100 a month.

Is Gemini free like Claude?

Yes. Both have a free plan as of October 28, 2026. Claude Free uses the Sonnet and Haiku models. Gemini Free uses Flash-Lite and includes 15 GB of storage.

Which is better for coding, Claude or Gemini?

Artificial Analysis's engineering index ranks Opus 5.5 first at 65 and Argon fifth at 57. Claude Pro also includes Claude Code, while Google AI Pro raises limits for its Jules and Antigravity tools.