Last verified 2025-09-22 (left) · 2025-09-22 (right)
Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite — Pricing & Capability Comparison
Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) charges $15.00 per million input tokens and $75.00 per million output tokens. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes in at $0.10 / $0.40. Context windows span 200K vs 1M tokens respectively.
TL;DR — Quick Comparison
- ✓Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper overall: $0.50 per 1M tokens (in+out) vs $90.00 for Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) — saves $89.50 per 1M tokens
- ✓Input pricing: Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) $15.00/1M vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.10/1M
- ✓Output pricing: Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) $75.00/1M vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.40/1M
- ✓Context window: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite offers more (1M vs 200K)
- ✓Use our calculator below to estimate costs for your specific usage pattern
Input price (per 1M)
Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy)
$15.00
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
$0.10
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite leads here
Output price (per 1M)
Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy)
$75.00
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
$0.40
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite leads here
Context window
Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy)
200,000 tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
1,000,000 tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite leads here
Cached input
Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy)
Not published
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Not published
No published data
Cost comparison for 10K-token workloads
Side-by-side pricing for identical workloads (10,000 total tokens per request) across different distributions.
| Scenario | Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|
Balanced conversation 50% input · 50% output | $0.450 | $0.0025 |
Input-heavy workflow 80% input · 20% output | $0.270 | $0.0016 |
Generation heavy 30% input · 70% output | $0.570 | $0.0031 |
Cached system prompt 90% cached input · 10% fresh output | $0.210 | $0.0013 |
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper: Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper for input tokens at $0.10 per 1M tokens compared to $15.00. For output, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.40 per 1M tokens versus $75.00 for Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy).
What is the cost per 1M tokens for Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy)?
Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) pricing: $15.00 per 1M input tokens and $75.00 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 200,000 tokens.
What is the cost per 1M tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite pricing: $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.40 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 1,000,000 tokens.
How much does it cost per 1K tokens?
Per 1K tokens: Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) costs $0.0150 input / $0.0750 output. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.0001 input / $0.0004 output. This is useful for calculating small-scale usage costs.
Which model supports a larger context window?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite offers 1,000,000 tokens (1M) versus 200K for Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy).
What is the estimated monthly cost for typical usage?
For a typical workload of 10M input + 2M output tokens per month: Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) would cost approximately $300.00, while Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite would cost $1.80. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is more economical for this usage pattern.
Do these models support prompt caching?
Claude Opus 4.1 (Legacy) does not publish cached pricing. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite does not publish cached pricing.
Which model is best for my use case?
Choose Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite for cost-sensitive applications with high input volume. Choose Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite if you need 1M context for long documents or conversations. Consider prompt caching if you have repeated context. Use our token calculator to model your specific usage pattern.