Claude Opus 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Argon
Claude Opus 5.5 scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (91 vs 85 out of 100). Gemini 4 Argon is about 4.0× cheaper per blended million tokens ($1.99 vs $8, one figure an Artificial Analysis estimate). On Artificial Analysis' independent Intelligence Index, Claude Opus 5.5 leads 58 to 53.
| Claude Opus 5.5 · Anthropic | Gemini 4 Argon · Google | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard rank | #1 | #3 |
| Score (0–100) | 91 | 85 |
| Tier | Frontier | Frontier |
| Price per 1M tokens | $4 in · $20 out | $1.99 blended (estimate) |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Open weights | No | No |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 58 | 53 |
| Arena text score | 1507 | 1525 |
| Humanity's Last Exam, Diamond (Scale) | 55.0 | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 167 | — |
| Best for | Agentic coding, Long-running agents, Enterprise knowledge work | Chat and assistant products, Google Cloud shops, Price-sensitive frontier work |
Choose Claude Opus 5.5 if…
- you need agentic coding
- you need long-running agents
- you need enterprise knowledge work
The model people actually ship agents on: top of the independent index, a price that does not need a budget meeting, and a community that complains mainly about how much it has to be used.
Caveats: Arena puts Gemini 4 Argon ahead on chat preference; the gap is inside two scores' error bars.
Choose Gemini 4 Argon if…
- you need chat and assistant products
- you need google cloud shops
- you need price-sensitive frontier work
Wins the popularity contest: first on Arena, mid-pack on the index, and priced like a workhorse.
Caveats: Google's public pricing page did not list Argon when read; the blended figure is Artificial Analysis' estimate.
What practitioners say
Claude Opus 5.5: The launch thread was the biggest Claude thread of the year on Hacker News, a port of the TypeScript compiler to Rust credited the model with a working build in ten hours, and a Vals AI materials-discovery run used it for agentic simulation. A 'has it been nerfed yet' tracker is the most-upvoted scepticism.
Gemini 4 Argon: The announcement thread ran to 1,190 comments; the independent analysis thread was smaller and more measured.
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Opus 5.5 or Gemini 4 Argon?
Claude Opus 5.5 scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (91 vs 85 out of 100). Gemini 4 Argon is about 4.0× cheaper per blended million tokens ($1.99 vs $8, one figure an Artificial Analysis estimate). On Artificial Analysis' independent Intelligence Index, Claude Opus 5.5 leads 58 to 53.
When should I choose Claude Opus 5.5 over Gemini 4 Argon?
Choose Claude Opus 5.5 for agentic coding, long-running agents, enterprise knowledge work. The model people actually ship agents on: top of the independent index, a price that does not need a budget meeting, and a community that complains mainly about how much it has to be used.
When should I choose Gemini 4 Argon over Claude Opus 5.5?
Choose Gemini 4 Argon for chat and assistant products, google cloud shops, price-sensitive frontier work. Wins the popularity contest: first on Arena, mid-pack on the index, and priced like a workhorse.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5.5 or Gemini 4 Argon?
Claude Opus 5.5 costs $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens on Anthropic's list price (Claude pricing, read Oct 10, 2026). Google does not publish a simple list price for Gemini 4 Argon; Artificial Analysis estimates a blended $1.99 per million tokens (three input to one output).
Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100: 50% independent evals normalised within this table, 20% price-performance, 15% practitioner sentiment from Signals and community threads, 15% operational fit (context, speed, availability, open weights). Models within three points are a tie in practice. Vendor-published figures are labelled as such and never counted as independent. Prices are vendor list prices where published; blended figures assume three input tokens per output token.