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Claude vs Gemini API

Two model provider options for LLM API. When each fits, what it costs, who moves from one to the other, and what makers who chose it say.

ClaudeModel providerllms.txtIn Lovable, Replit
Gemini APIModel providerIn Lovable, Replit
Ask your AI about this, with this page as the source:ChatGPT ↗Claude ↗Perplexity ↗

Which fits you

Choose Claude if
  • You want the strongest general models and the widest ecosystem of examples and integrations

Use it whenYour feature is an agent that calls tools, writes code or works through long documents.

Trade-offNo image generation or embedding models of its own, so those need a second provider.

Choose Gemini API if
  • You want the strongest general models and the widest ecosystem of examples and integrations

Use it whenYou feed in whole documents, video or audio, or want to start without paying.

Trade-offFree-tier prompts may be used to improve Google's products, so paid tier is the one for user data.

At a glance

ClaudeGemini API
Used by251 makers' products · 285 open-source projects99 makers' products · 227 open-source projects
Cost at default usageinput tokens 50 million tokens, output tokens 10 million tokens$10/mo Claude Haiku 5.5$28/mo Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
Moved to it on GitHubpull requests since Oct 2024108+ from Gemini API105+ from Claude
Downloads31.6M/wk4.1× vs npm19.2M/wk6.5× vs npm
PricingPay per token. · paid from Pay per tokenFree tier with rate limits; pay per token. · paid from Pay per token
Free tierNoYes
Open sourceNoNo
Incidents, 90 daysfrom its status page50+ (21 major)no public status feed

Cost as you grow

At 1M tokens Claude costs less ($0.20 vs $0.55); and still does at 5B tokens ($1,000 vs $2,750).

$0$100$500$1,000$2,0001510501005001k5k
Gemini APIClaudex: input tokens per month (million tokens), other usage scaled with it · cheapest usable plan at each point, list prices · try your own numbers
The numbers, plan by plan
Input tokens per monthClaudeGemini API
1$0.20 Claude Haiku 5.5$0.55 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
5$1.00 Claude Haiku 5.5$2.75 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
10$2.00 Claude Haiku 5.5$5.50 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
50$10 Claude Haiku 5.5$28 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
100$20 Claude Haiku 5.5$55 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
500$100 Claude Haiku 5.5$275 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
1,000$200 Claude Haiku 5.5$550 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
5,000$1,000 Claude Haiku 5.5$2,750 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

From each vendor's pricing page: Claude, Gemini API.

Who moves from one to the other

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "Claude to Gemini API" or the reverse — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only.

Gemini API → Claude108+ PRs
All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗
Claude → Gemini API105+ PRs
All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗

What makers say

Makers on using it for LLM API, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.

On Claude
Taskade Genesis works beautifully with Claude. It brings strong reasoning and long-range thinking to any Genesis app, helping systems plan, adapt, and make sense of complex inputs.
Taskade, the makerSep 2026 ↗
We're excited about Claude-3.5 Sonnet and the upcoming 3.5 Opus. We'll introduce Opus to AICamp users upon release. We use Sonnet for its superior pair programming capabilities.
AICamp, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Huge shoutout to the Anthropic team — their Claude models are the backbone of some of our agents. Fast, reliable, and beautifully open‑source. Exactly what the AI world needs more of.
Calk AI, the makerSep 2026 ↗
149 more on the Claude page →
On Gemini API
Powers all agent conversations on Konfide. Fast, cost-effective, handles unlimited concurrent chats. Every user message goes through Gemini. Chose it for speed and quality at scale.
Konfide, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Gemini gives us another strong option for routing complex tasks. Fast response times and competitive pricing mean we can offer our customers more flexibility in how their automations run.
Logic, Inc., the makerSep 2026 ↗
Saturn uses Gemini for structured data extraction from Japanese government filings (EDINET, gBizINFO). Best cost-performance ratio for Japanese language processing at scale.
Saturn, the makerSep 2026 ↗
67 more on the Gemini API page →

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.

Claude
Most loved
  • It is strong at writing code and powers many code generation and coding agent products. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • It stays coherent through long, multi-step reasoning and agent workflows. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • Its writing sounds natural and matches a user's tone rather than reading as AI-generated. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
Watch-outs
  • Outages are frequent, with uptime below three nines across the API and apps. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
  • API pricing is a large multiple of subscription pricing, making heavy agent use expensive. HNHN 2HN 3
  • Postmortems confirmed periods of degraded output, including a lowered default reasoning effort in Claude Code. HN
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 1,012 reviews · mentioned most: AI assistant, code generation, contextual understanding · complaints: message limits, typography issues
Gemini API
Most loved
  • It offers some of the best price-to-performance, with fast, cheap Flash models. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • A context window of a million tokens or more handles whole codebases and long documents without extra pipelines. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • Native multimodal input covers video, screenshots and audio. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
Watch-outs
  • Getting an API key and paying is confusing, with usage tiers and Google Cloud console hoops. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
  • Models are deprecated abruptly, some without leaving preview or having a replacement. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
  • Pricing docs are unclear, and new models sometimes launch without listed prices. HNHN 2
On Product Hunt: 4.9★, 167 reviews · mentioned most: fast performance, multimodal capabilities, Google integration · complaints: inconsistent data, hallucinations

Who uses each

Claude251 makers' products
8baseAccordio AIAgentcardAgentplace.ioAgentXAI Code Reviews by MatterAIAI EmailyAICampAirial TravelAirKarenAnythingAstrid+239 more
Gemini API99 makers' products
1752vc Pitch Deck Analyzer8baseAccorataAgentplace.ioAppear on AIAskiva AIAsmi AIAutomaticallBookmarkjar ®BriefyBuilt for DevsCiro+87 more
Used by both — often one replacing the other, or each for a different part of the product
8baseAgentplace.ioAI EmailyBlink.newBuilt for DevsDoraverseFirstQuadrantFunBlocks MindMaxgiselleHuman BehaviorHyringIncerto

What makers pair each with

With Claude
Transactional Email
Frontend Framework
Hosting
Payments
With Gemini API
Frontend Framework
Transactional Email
Database
Hosting

Neither quite right?

See the whole LLM API decision →
OpenAI APIModel providerThe broadest model lineup — text, images, speech, embeddings — and the largest ecosystem.vs Claude →vs Gemini API →
GroqOpen models, hostedVery low-latency inference on open models, for real-time features.vs Claude →vs Gemini API →
Mistral AIModel providerA European provider whose API covers chat, coding, OCR and speech models.vs Claude →vs Gemini API →
DeepSeekModel providerLow per-token prices on strong reasoning and coding models, with OpenAI- and Anthropic-format endpoints.vs Claude →vs Gemini API →
OpenRouterGateway (many providers, one API)Trying many models from many providers with one API key and one bill, without opening an account at each.vs Claude →
LiteLLMGateway (many providers, one API)Running your own OpenAI-compatible proxy in front of your own provider keys, with retries, routing and per-key budgets.