Side by side · November 2026

Gemini 4 Carbon vs Claude Fable 5.2

Gemini 4 Carbon scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (75 vs 71 out of 100). On independent tests alone, Claude Fable 5.2 is ahead (100 vs 92). Gemini 4 Carbon is cheaper: 1,000 support replies cost about $10 at list price, against $40 on Claude Fable 5.2, which is 4 times as much. On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, one of the independent tests, Claude Fable 5.2 leads 65 to 60.

Updated Nov 12, 2026 · every number links to who measured it

	Gemini 4 Carbon · Google	Claude Fable 5.2 · Anthropic
Leaderboard rank	#1	#3
Score (0–100)	75	71
Kind of work	Hardest problems	Hardest problems
Price per 1M tokens	$2 to read · $10 to write	$8 to read · $40 to write
Reads at once	1M tokens (about 750,000 words)	1M tokens (about 750,000 words)
Where you can get it	Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Google Cloud), Google AI Studio, Gemini for business, Gemini app (Google AI Ultra)	Claude Team and Enterprise, Amazon Bedrock, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Google Cloud), Microsoft Foundry
Can a company host it itself	No	No
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index	60	65
Humanity's Last Exam, Diamond (Scale)	Not measured	72.40
Humanity's Sixth Sense (Scale)	Not measured	59.50
Epoch Capabilities Index	Not measured	173
Best for	Reading and comparing large sets of dense documents, Legal and finance analysis, Multi-step research	Financial and technical analysis with no room for error, Multi-step research, Work Claude Opus 5.5 gets wrong

Cost of 1,000 jobs

1,000 of these	Gemini 4 Carbon	Claude Fable 5.2
Support repliesthe customer message, the account notes and two help articles read; a 300-word reply written	$10	$40
Documents processeda two-page invoice or form read; the fields pulled out	$7	$28
Calls summariseda 40-minute call transcript read; a summary and next steps written	$26	$104
Contracts revieweda 40-page contract read against a checklist; a memo of issues written	$75	$300
Drafts writtena brief and one example read; a 600-word email or proposal section written	$11	$44

Worked out from each vendor’s list price and a fixed size for each job. A product built on a model charges its own price on top. See what every model costs for the same jobs.

Choose Gemini 4 Carbon for

Reading and comparing large sets of dense documents
Legal and finance analysis
Multi-step research

Second on Artificial Analysis's index (60 against the leader's 65) at a quarter of the leader's list price, but only until 30 November, when Google doubles it.

Caveats: The $2 in / $10 out per million tokens (the unit vendors bill by) is introductory; Google says $4 / $20 applies after 30 November 2026, which will lower its score here. Google says it uses more text per task than Gemini 4 Argon, so the bill can run higher at the same list price. One independent test so far. The rankings quoted in Google's launch post are relayed by Google and not counted. In the Gemini app it is for Google AI Ultra subscribers only, per Google; commenters on lower plans and one enterprise account report they cannot select it yet.

Choose Claude Fable 5.2 for

Financial and technical analysis with no room for error
Multi-step research
Work Claude Opus 5.5 gets wrong

The strongest model on the board for problems the others get wrong: first on every independent test read, at twice the list price of Claude Opus 5.5.

Caveats: Anthropic's own advice is to start with Opus 5.5 and move up only when its answers fall short. It writes more per answer: Artificial Analysis's test run cost $26.54 per task at the top effort setting against $10.04 for Opus 5.5, a wider gap than the list prices suggest. On Claude Team it is offered on premium seats, up to half the weekly usage limit; Enterprise bills usage at API rates, per Anthropic's pricing page. Mythos 5.2 is the same model without the cyber and biology safeguards, open only through Anthropic's verification programs. It ranks third, not first, because price is 30% of the score and this is the second most expensive model here; on independent test results alone it is first.

What people running them say

Gemini 4 Carbon: On the Hacker News (a developer forum) thread about Google's launch, several commenters on the Pro and Plus plans say Carbon shows in the app as Ultra-only, one says their company's enterprise account cannot use it yet, and another says their workplace already finds Argon too expensive. None of this is verified, and it is too little to score.

Claude Fable 5.2: One Hacker News (developer forum) launch thread, read through Signals: a commenter who tried it says it pulls ahead of Opus 5.5 only on very ambitious requests, another says Opus 5.5 at a high effort setting was enough for a software project of 125,000 lines, and a third asks how anyone measures the difference at the price. Too little to score.

Questions people ask

Which is better, Gemini 4 Carbon or Claude Fable 5.2?

When should I choose Gemini 4 Carbon over Claude Fable 5.2?

Choose Gemini 4 Carbon for reading and comparing large sets of dense documents, legal and finance analysis, multi-step research. Second on Artificial Analysis's index (60 against the leader's 65) at a quarter of the leader's list price, but only until 30 November, when Google doubles it.

When should I choose Claude Fable 5.2 over Gemini 4 Carbon?

Choose Claude Fable 5.2 for financial and technical analysis with no room for error, multi-step research, work claude opus 5.5 gets wrong. The strongest model on the board for problems the others get wrong: first on every independent test read, at twice the list price of Claude Opus 5.5.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 4 Carbon or Claude Fable 5.2?

Gemini 4 Carbon costs $2 per million tokens it reads (input) and $10 per million tokens it writes (output) on Google's list price (Google: Gemini 4 Carbon is now available, read Nov 12, 2026). A token is about three-quarters of a word. Claude Fable 5.2 costs $8 per million tokens it reads (input) and $40 per million tokens it writes (output) on Anthropic's list price (Claude pricing, read Nov 12, 2026). A token is about three-quarters of a word.

What do 1,000 jobs cost on Gemini 4 Carbon and Claude Fable 5.2?

At list price: 1,000 support replies cost $10 on Gemini 4 Carbon and $40 on Claude Fable 5.2; 1,000 documents processed cost $7 on Gemini 4 Carbon and $28 on Claude Fable 5.2; 1,000 calls summarised cost $26 on Gemini 4 Carbon and $104 on Claude Fable 5.2; 1,000 contracts reviewed cost $75 on Gemini 4 Carbon and $300 on Claude Fable 5.2; 1,000 drafts written cost $11 on Gemini 4 Carbon and $44 on Claude Fable 5.2. A product built on either model charges its own price on top.

Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100 and computed, not typed. 40% is independent testing (Artificial Analysis, Arena, Scale, Epoch, Vals and others; each test is scaled against the best score on this board, and tests of real work, such as finished freelance projects or professional tasks, count double the exams). 30% is price: the vendor's list price for a typical mix of reading and writing, on a fixed scale from $0.05 to $60 per million tokens, so a model that costs a fifth as much gains real ground. 15% is what people report after running it, from Signals and linked threads. 15% is fit: how much text it can take in at once and where a business can get it (the products and clouds that carry it), with a small credit for open weights. A missing component drops out and the rest are reweighted. A model with no independent test yet is provisional and ranks below every measured one. Within three points is a tie. Vendor-published figures are labelled and never counted. Prices are vendor list prices where published; a typical mix assumes three parts reading to one part writing.