Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) vs Gemini 3.5 Flash (High)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) by Anthropic or Gemini 3.5 Flash (High) by Google? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) scores 17.0 points higher (49.6 vs 32.6) but costs 2.6× as much to run the benchmark ($11161 vs $4222; both flagship class). Pick Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Gemini 3.5 Flash (High).
| Metric | Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) | Gemini 3.5 Flash (High) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.6 | 32.6 | −34.3% Gemini 3.5 Flash (Hig… is 34.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $11,160.86 | $4,222.12 | −62.2% Gemini 3.5 Flash (Hig… is 62.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 85.37s | 16.46s | −80.7% Gemini 3.5 Flash (Hig… is 80.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $1.50 / $9.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech, Video |
Gemini 3.5 Flash (High) vs Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback): 34.3% less intelligence, 62.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 80.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 57.60 for $8708.
- Gemini 3.5 Flash (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback)Gemini 3.5 Flash (High)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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