Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026noindex (thin pair)

Claude Sonnet 4 vs Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) benchmark

Name: Claude Sonnet 4 vs Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this head-to-head showdown, Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is more budget-friendly at $0/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

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Executive Verdict Summary

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) holds empirical advantage (2 of 3 metrics)

Coding / SWESWE-bench

Claude Sonnet 4Top code solve rate

ReasoningGPQA / Live

Claude Sonnet 4Top logical accuracy

Best Value$/1M Tok

Claude Sonnet 4Lowest API billing cost

Speed / TokTok/Sec

Claude Sonnet 4Fastest stream rate

Verified Advantage Breakdown

3 benchmarks evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

Claude Sonnet 4 (1)Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) (2)

Claude Sonnet 4

1 of 3 Wins

✓Context window

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

2 of 3 Wins

✓Input price✓Output price

Anthropic

Leads 1 of 3

Claude Sonnet 4

First Sonnet 4 generation. Bridge between 3.5/3.7 and Sonnet 5.

Elo 1,455In: $3 · Out: $15/1M

Google

Leads 2 of 3

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (google/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it:free). Preview until a second source matches.

In: $0 · Out: $0/1M

Top Rival Showdowns for Claude Sonnet 4

All Matchups

Compare vs:vs GPT-5 vs Gemini 3 Pro vs Grok 4.6 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Qwen 3 Max

Preference Leader

No shared data

Single model data

Throughput Leader

No shared data

No latency data

Value per Dollar LeaderGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) Wins

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

$0 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top standard models across 6 key capability dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect

0–100 %ile

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

Claude Sonnet 4 (8)vsGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) (2)

Claude Sonnet 4: 8W (80%)Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free): 2W (20%)

← Claude Sonnet 4Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) →

🏆Claude Sonnet 4 Leads(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Benchmark

Claude Sonnet 4vsGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Preference Elo

1,455vs—

Coding Elo

1,468vs—

SWE-bench

62.8%vs—

LiveBench

63.2%vs—

GPQA Diamond

76.4%vs—

Claude Sonnet 4: 5WGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free): 0W

🏆Claude Sonnet 4 Leads(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark

Claude Sonnet 4vsGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Output speed

92 tok/svs—

Time to first token

220 msvs—

Claude Sonnet 4: 2WGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free): 0W

🏆Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) Leads(2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark

Claude Sonnet 4vsGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Output price

$15/1Mvs$0/1M+$15/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$0/1M+$3/1M

Context window

1Mvs262k+738k

Claude Sonnet 4: 1WGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free): 2W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Claude Sonnet 4Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Preference Elo

Claude Sonnet 41,455

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

Coding Elo

Claude Sonnet 41,468

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

LiveBench

Claude Sonnet 463.2%

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

SWE-bench

Claude Sonnet 462.8%

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

GPQA Diamond

Claude Sonnet 476.4%

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

Time to first token

Claude Sonnet 4220 ms

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

Output speed

Claude Sonnet 492 tok/s

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

Input priceGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) +$3/1M

Claude Sonnet 4$3/1M

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)$0/1M

Output priceGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) +$15/1M

Claude Sonnet 4$15/1M

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)$0/1M

Context windowClaude Sonnet 4 +738k

Claude Sonnet 41M

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)262k

Benchmark	Claude Sonnet 4	Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)	Advantage Delta
Preference Elo	1,455 lmarena · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
Coding Elo	1,468 lmarena · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
LiveBench	63.2% livebench · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
SWE-bench	62.8% swebench · Aug 17, 2026	—	—
GPQA Diamond	76.4% seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Time to first token	220 ms seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Output speed	92 tok/s seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	—	—
Input price	$3/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	$0/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	+$3/1M
Output price	$15/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	$0/1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	+$15/1M
Context window	1M openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	262k openrouter · Aug 17, 2026	+738k

Key Selection Recommendations

1
Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free):Pick Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) when you are optimizing output cost.
2
Claude Sonnet 4:Pick Claude Sonnet 4 for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Lower output list price ($0/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGClaude Sonnet 4

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionClaude Sonnet 4

Claude Sonnet 4 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)	Lower output list price ($0/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	Claude Sonnet 4	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Claude Sonnet 4	Claude Sonnet 4 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK

Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 4

Elo 1,455

SWE-bench62.8%

Speed (tok/s)92 tok/s

Input / 1M Tokens$3/1M

Output / 1M Tokens$15/1M

Google

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Elo n/a

SWE-bench—

Speed (tok/s)262k

Input / 1M Tokens$0/1M

Output / 1M Tokens$0/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 4 or Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)?: We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, Claude Sonnet 4 or Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)?: SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) output tokens are $0/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4 or Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)?: We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?: Claude Sonnet 4 accepts 1M tokens versus 262k.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude Sonnet 4 and Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Claude Sonnet 4 matchups →|All Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) matchups →

Claude Sonnet 4 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet (previous sonnet)Claude Sonnet 4 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 (next sonnet)Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking vs Claude Sonnet 4 Gemini 3 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 4 Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 4 Gemini 3.7 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 4

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top standard models across 6 key capability dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect

0–100 %ile

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Claude Sonnet 4Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Preference Elo

Claude Sonnet 41,455

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

Coding Elo

Claude Sonnet 41,468

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

LiveBench

Claude Sonnet 463.2%

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

SWE-bench

Claude Sonnet 462.8%

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

GPQA Diamond

Claude Sonnet 476.4%

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

Time to first token

Claude Sonnet 4220 ms

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

Output speed

Claude Sonnet 492 tok/s

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)—

Input priceGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) +$3/1M

Claude Sonnet 4$3/1M

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)$0/1M

Output priceGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) +$15/1M

Claude Sonnet 4$15/1M

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)$0/1M

Context windowClaude Sonnet 4 +738k

Claude Sonnet 41M

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)262k

Benchmark

Claude Sonnet 4

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Advantage Delta

Preference Elo

1,455

lmarena · Aug 17, 2026

—

Coding Elo

1,468

lmarena · Aug 17, 2026

—

LiveBench

63.2%

livebench · Aug 17, 2026

—

SWE-bench

62.8%

swebench · Aug 17, 2026

—

GPQA Diamond

76.4%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Time to first token

220 ms

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Output speed

92 tok/s

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

—

Input price

$3/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

$0/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

+$3/1M

Output price

$15/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

$0/1M

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

+$15/1M

Context window

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

262k

openrouter · Aug 17, 2026

+738k

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatGoogle: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Lower output list price ($0/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGClaude Sonnet 4

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionClaude Sonnet 4

Claude Sonnet 4 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)	Lower output list price ($0/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	Claude Sonnet 4	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Claude Sonnet 4	Claude Sonnet 4 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 4 or Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)?

We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.

Which is better at coding, Claude Sonnet 4 or Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)?

SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) output tokens are $0/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4 or Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)?

We do not have TTFT for both models.

Which has the larger context window?

Claude Sonnet 4 accepts 1M tokens versus 262k.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude Sonnet 4 and Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.