Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Gemma 4 26B A4B IT
Claude Haiku 4.5 (2025) and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT (2026) are general-purpose language models from Anthropic and Google DeepMind. Claude Haiku 4.5 ships a 200k-token context window, while Gemma 4 26B A4B IT ships a 256k-token context window. On pricing, Gemma 4 26B A4B IT costs $0.06/1M input tokens versus $0.80/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is ~1233% cheaper at $0.06/1M; pay for Claude Haiku 4.5 only for coding workflow support.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | multimodal apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production | multimodal apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | 200k | 256k |
| Cheapest output | $4/1M tokens | $0.33/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 9 tracked | 9 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Claude Haiku 4.5 uniquely exposes Code execution in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Claude Haiku 4.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.33/1M tokens.
- Local decision data tags Gemma 4 26B A4B IT for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Claude Haiku 4.5
$1,640
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT
$131
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Estimated monthly gap: $1,510. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on GCP Vertex AI, OpenRouter, and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is $3.67/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Code execution before moving production traffic.
- Provider overlap exists on GCP Vertex AI, OpenRouter, and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude Haiku 4.5 is $3.67/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Claude Haiku 4.5 adds Code execution in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-10-01 | 2026-03-31 |
| Context window | 200k | 256k |
| Parameters | — | 26B |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | - |
| License | Proprietary | Apache 2.0OSI-approved |
| Openness | Proprietary | Open source |
| Weights | Not released | Available |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-02 | 2025-01 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.80/1M tokens | $0.06/1M tokens |
| Output price | $4/1M tokens | $0.33/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | Yes | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-26. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.