Claude Opus 4.6 vs ShieldGemma 9B
Claude Opus 4.6 (2026) and ShieldGemma 9B (2024) are frontier reasoning models from Anthropic and Google DeepMind. Claude Opus 4.6 ships a 1m-token context window, while ShieldGemma 9B ships a 8k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
Claude Opus 4.6 fits 125x more tokens; pick it for long-context work and ShieldGemma 9B for tighter calls.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude Opus 4.6 | ShieldGemma 9B |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents | general production evaluation |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | Classification |
| Context window | 1m | 8k |
| Cheapest output | $25/1M tokens | - |
| Provider routes | 6 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Claude Opus 4.6 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Claude Opus 4.6 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Claude Opus 4.6 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Claude Opus 4.6 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Local decision data tags ShieldGemma 9B for Classification.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Claude Opus 4.6
$10,250
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Anthropic
ShieldGemma 9B
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Claude Opus 4.6 and ShieldGemma 9B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning before moving production traffic.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for ShieldGemma 9B and Claude Opus 4.6; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Claude Opus 4.6 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2026-02-05 | 2024-07-01 |
| Context window | 1m | 8k |
| Parameters | — | 9B |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | Gemma |
| Openness | Proprietary | Open weights |
| Weights | Not released | Unknown |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-12 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude Opus 4.6 | ShieldGemma 9B |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $5/1M tokens | - |
| Output price | $25/1M tokens | - |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude Opus 4.6 | ShieldGemma 9B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | No |
| 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.