Claude Opus 4.8 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro — Anthropic’s flagship versus Google’s most capable model. Below is the full side-by-side: specifications, API pricing, context window, local hardware requirements, and a clear, data-driven recommendation on which to pick.
| Spec | Claude Opus 4.8 | Gemini 3.1 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Anthropic | |
| Type | LLM (reasoning) | LLM (multimodal) |
| Parameters | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
| Context window | 1M | 1.05M |
| Modality | Text, Vision → Text | Text, Image, Audio, Video → Text |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Open weights | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Input price ($/1M) | $5.00 | $2.00 |
| Output price ($/1M) | $25.00 | $12.00 |
| VRAM (4-bit) | — | — |
| Min GPU (local) | — | — |
| Released | 2026 | 2026 |
Key differences
- Cost: Gemini 3.1 Pro is 122% cheaper than Claude Opus 4.8 on a blended-token basis.
- Context: Gemini 3.1 Pro wins on context window (1.05M vs 1M) — better for long documents, large codebases and big RAG inputs.
- Openness: both are proprietary, API-only models — no self-hosting option for either.
Which should you choose?
Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if it fits your existing stack or you prefer Anthropic.
Choose Gemini 3.1 Pro if you want the lower per-token cost for high-volume workloads, or you need the larger context window.
→ Estimate real costs in the API cost calculator · check local hardware in the VRAM calculator · browse all 30+ models.
All specs and prices are pulled live from our AI models database and kept current. Compare either model against others, or estimate your own monthly spend with the free calculators above.