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 $0.8/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is ~1233% cheaper at $0.06/1M; pay for Claude Haiku 4.5 only for coding workflow support.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-10-01 | 2026-03-31 |
| Context window | 200k | 256k |
| Parameters | — | 26B |
| Architecture | decoder only | - |
| License | Proprietary | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-02 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.8/1M 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 | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | Yes | Yes |
| Tool use | Yes | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | Yes | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Claude Haiku 4.5, tool use: Claude Haiku 4.5, and code execution: Claude Haiku 4.5. Both models share multimodal input, function calling, and structured outputs, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Claude Haiku 4.5 lists $0.8/1M input and $4/1M output tokens, while Gemma 4 26B A4B IT lists $0.06/1M input and $0.33/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Gemma 4 26B A4B IT lower by about $1.62 per million blended tokens. Availability is 7 providers versus 4, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 when coding workflow support and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Gemma 4 26B A4B IT when long-context analysis, larger context windows, and lower input-token cost are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT supports 256k tokens, while Claude Haiku 4.5 supports 200k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $0.8/1M input and $4/1M output tokens. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT costs $0.06/1M input and $0.33/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT open source?
Claude Haiku 4.5 is listed under Proprietary. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is listed under Open Source. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Claude Haiku 4.5 has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for multimodal input, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Both Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT expose multimodal input. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Where can I run Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT?
Claude Haiku 4.5 is available on Microsoft Foundry, Anthropic, Snowflake Cortex, AWS Bedrock, and GCP Vertex AI. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is available on Google AI Studio, GCP Vertex AI, OpenRouter, and Together AI. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.