Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Gemini 4 Carbon (High)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Gemini 4 Carbon (High) 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 4.6 points higher (64.6 vs 60.0) but costs 2.7× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $8240; both flagship class). Pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Gemini 4 Carbon (High).
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Gemini 4 Carbon (High) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 64.6 | 60.0 | −7.1% Gemini 4 Carbon (High) is 7.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22,191.42 | $8,239.69 | −62.9% Gemini 4 Carbon (High) is 62.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 258.66s | 103.67s | −59.9% Gemini 4 Carbon (High) is 59.9% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $8.00 / $40.0 | $4.00 / $20.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech, Video |
Gemini 4 Carbon (High) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback): 7.1% less intelligence, 62.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 59.9% 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 4 Carbon (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Fable 5.2 (High, Default Fallback) scores 61.80 for $7106.
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback)Gemini 4 Carbon (High)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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