Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview
Claude Sonnet 4.5 (2025) and Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview (2026) are frontier-tier reasoning models from Anthropic and Google DeepMind. Claude Sonnet 4.5 ships a 200k-token context window, while Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview ships a 128k-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.
Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview is safer overall; choose Claude Sonnet 4.5 when long-context analysis matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | RAG, Agents, and Long context |
| Context window | 200k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $15/1M tokens | $5/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 8 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Claude Sonnet 4.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $5/1M tokens.
- Local decision data tags Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview for RAG, Agents, and Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
$6,150
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Microsoft Foundry
Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview
$2,050
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Google AI Studio
Estimated monthly gap: $4,100. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview is $10/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview and Claude Sonnet 4.5; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 is $10/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-09-29 | 2026-04-14 |
| Context window | 200k | 128k |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Openness | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Weights | Not released | Not released |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-12 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Input price |
| $1/1M tokens |
| Output price |
| $5/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | 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.