Choose Gemini 3.8 Flash if
- ✓ Your input includes video or audio
- ✓ You are processing folders of mixed file types
- ✓ You want one model for text, image, video and audio rather than a pipeline
Head to head · OpenRouter
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Claude Haiku 5.5
Cheap-tier models pointed at different shapes of work. Gemini 3.8 Flash reads text, image, video, file and audio at $0.75 / $3.75 per million with a 1M-token window; Claude Haiku 5.5 reads text, image and files at $0.10 / $0.50 with the same 1M-token window. Haiku is 7.5x cheaper on input — and cannot see video or hear audio.
Quick verdict
If your input is words and pictures, Haiku 5.5 is the cheaper answer by a wide margin, and it is positioned for exactly the high-volume jobs (summarisation, subagents, browser use) that cheap tiers exist for. Reach for Gemini Flash when the input is a video, a recording, or a folder of mixed files — that is the capability worth 7.5x, not the model's badge.
Side-by-side comparison
| Field | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Claude Haiku 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| Context window | 1.05M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Input / 1M | $0.750 | $0.100 |
| Output / 1M | $3.75 | $0.500 |
| Modalities | Text, Vision, Audio, Video, Files | Text, Vision, Files |
| Best for | Multimodal, Long Context | Budget, Agents |
Source
openrouter.ai/api/v1/models Verified 2026-10-10 Cost estimates
| Workload | Input | Output | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Claude Haiku 5.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick test | 20,000 | 5,000 | $0.034 | $0.005 |
| Product chat month | 500,000 | 125,000 | $0.844 | $0.113 |
| Document batch | 5,000,000 | 1,000,000 | $7.50 | $1.00 |
Estimates use list input/output prices and exclude cache discounts, provider surcharges and tool fees.
Choose Claude Haiku 5.5 if
- ✓ The input is text, images and files only
- ✓ The volume is high and the budget matters — subagents, classification, summarisation
- ✓ You want the cheapest row here from a frontier vendor
FAQ
Is Gemini 3.8 Flash cheaper than Claude Haiku 5.5?
Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.750 input and $3.75 output per 1M tokens. Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.100 input and $0.500 output per 1M tokens.
Which model has the larger context window?
Gemini 3.8 Flash offers 1.05M tokens; Claude Haiku 5.5 offers 1M tokens. Provider-specific limits can vary by route.
Which one should I choose?
If your input is words and pictures, Haiku 5.5 is the cheaper answer by a wide margin, and it is positioned for exactly the high-volume jobs (summarisation, subagents, browser use) that cheap tiers exist for. Reach for Gemini Flash when the input is a video, a recording, or a folder of mixed files — that is the capability worth 7.5x, not the model's badge.
Gemini 3.8 Flash details Claude Haiku 5.5 details Estimate monthly cost
Pricing and context data are based on a 2026-10-10 snapshot. Provider limits and pricing can change; verify on OpenRouter before production.