Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite by Google? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-11-10.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 58.4 points higher (64.6 vs 6.2) but costs 99× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $224; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 6.2, and Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite when 6.2 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 64.6 | 6.2 | −90.4% Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is 90.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22,191.42 | $224.32 | −99.0% Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is 99.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 258.66s | 6.22s | −97.6% Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is 97.6% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $8.00 / $40.0 | $0.25 / $1.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech, Video |
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback): 90.4% less intelligence, 99.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 97.6% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Terra (Medium) scores 38.20 for $190.
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback)Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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