Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Gemini 4 Carbon (Medium)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Gemini 4 Carbon (Medium) 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 6.3 points higher (64.6 vs 58.3) but costs 3.8× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $5903; both flagship class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 58.3, and Gemini 4 Carbon (Medium) when 58.3 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Gemini 4 Carbon (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 64.6 | 58.3 | −9.8% Gemini 4 Carbon (Medi… is 9.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22,191.42 | $5,903.03 | −73.4% Gemini 4 Carbon (Medi… is 73.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 258.66s | 12.76s | −95.1% Gemini 4 Carbon (Medi… is 95.1% 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 (Medium) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback): 9.8% less intelligence, 73.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 95.1% 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 (Medium) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback)Gemini 4 Carbon (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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