Claude Fable 5.1 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash
Claude Fable 5.1 is served by invitation. Its figures below are the live rates, but calls need a workspace grant first; ask us for access before you build on this comparison.
Which one, when
Both models sit at roughly the same context size - 1000000 tokens for claude-fable-5-1 versus 1048576 for gemini-3.6-flash - so the real split is price, output room, and inputs. claude-fable-5-1 costs about 6.7x more on input ($10 vs $1.5 per million) and about 6.7x more on output ($50 vs $7.5), but it doubles the max output ceiling to 128000 tokens and carries thinking and reasoning flags plus a 2026-06 cutoff. Pick gemini-3.6-flash for high-volume text, image, video, or audio work (audio input at $5 per million), and claude-fable-5-1 for long reasoning-heavy generations.
Benchmarks
Vendor-published: Alibaba (Qwen) Anthropic DeepSeek Google MiniMax Moonshot OpenAI Tencent Z.ai
Pricing
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $10 | $1.5 | 6.7× |
| Output / 1M tokens | $50 | $7.5 | 6.7× |
| Cache read / 1M tokens | $0.25 | $0.15 | 1.7× |
| Cache write | 1.25x (5m) / 2x (1h) | - | - |
Rates from the live catalog at build time; each model page carries the current card.
Where they sit - input price per 1M tokens across all 67 chat models on this billing unit (log scale)
Capabilities
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool use | yes | yes |
| Thinking control | always on | always on |
| Structured output | yes | yes |
| Prompt caching | explicit (you mark the prefix) | implicit + explicit |
| Cache lifetime | 5m default, 1h option | not published |
| Minimum cached prefix | 1024 tokens | 4096 tokens |
Specs
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Input modalities | text image | text image audio video |
| Output modalities | text | text |
| Released | 2026-09-01 | - |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2026-06 | 2026-03 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Max output | 128K | 66K |
| Thinking parameter | output_config.effort (thinking is adaptive-only and always on) | thinkingLevel |
| Accepted values | effort
|
|
| Default | thinking always on (adaptive) effort
| medium |
Specs are transcribed from each vendor’s documentation; a row a vendor does not publish is left out rather than inferred. Full sources: Claude Fable 5.1 · Gemini 3.6 Flash
Switch between them with one line
Both ids are in every tab below - the highlighted pair of lines is the only edit. Same endpoint, same key, same request shape.
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://synthorai.io/v1",
api_key="sk-syn-...",
)
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
model="claude-fable-5-1",
# model="gemini-3.6-flash", # uncomment this line, comment the one above
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Summarize this diff"}],
reasoning_effort="medium",
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)import OpenAI from "openai";
const client = new OpenAI({
baseURL: "https://synthorai.io/v1",
apiKey: "sk-syn-...",
});
const resp = await client.chat.completions.create({
model: "claude-fable-5-1",
// model: "gemini-3.6-flash", // uncomment this line, comment the one above
messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Summarize this diff" }],
reasoning_effort: "medium",
});
console.log(resp.choices[0].message.content);curl https://synthorai.io/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk-syn-..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "claude-fable-5-1",
# "model": "gemini-3.6-flash", # uncomment this line, comment the one above
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
"reasoning_effort": "medium"
}'package main
import (
"context"
"fmt"
"github.com/openai/openai-go/v3"
"github.com/openai/openai-go/v3/option"
)
func main() {
client := openai.NewClient(
option.WithBaseURL("https://synthorai.io/v1"),
option.WithAPIKey("sk-syn-..."),
)
resp, _ := client.Chat.Completions.New(context.TODO(), openai.ChatCompletionNewParams{
Model: "claude-fable-5-1",
// Model: "gemini-3.6-flash", // uncomment this line, comment the one above
Messages: []openai.ChatCompletionMessageParamUnion{
openai.UserMessage("Summarize this diff"),
},
ReasoningEffort: openai.ReasoningEffortMedium,
})
fmt.Println(resp.Choices[0].Message.Content)
}import com.openai.client.OpenAIClient;
import com.openai.client.okhttp.OpenAIOkHttpClient;
import com.openai.models.chat.completions.*;
import com.openai.models.ReasoningEffort;
OpenAIClient client = OpenAIOkHttpClient.builder()
.baseUrl("https://synthorai.io/v1")
.apiKey("sk-syn-...")
.build();
ChatCompletion resp = client.chat().completions().create(
ChatCompletionCreateParams.builder()
.model("claude-fable-5-1")
// .model("gemini-3.6-flash") // uncomment this line, comment the one above
.addUserMessage("Summarize this diff")
.reasoningEffort(ReasoningEffort.MEDIUM)
.build());
System.out.println(resp.choices().get(0).message().content().orElse(""));FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Fable 5.1 or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is cheaper on input / 1m tokens ($1.5 vs $10, 6.7× apart). Other rows may point the other way - the table above carries the full card, and real cost depends on your mix.
Can I A/B test Claude Fable 5.1 against Gemini 3.6 Flash without two integrations?
Yes. Both are served through the same OpenAI-compatible endpoint with one API key - switching is a one-line model-string change, so you can route a fraction of traffic to each and compare bills directly.
Do Claude Fable 5.1 and Gemini 3.6 Flash support prompt caching?
Yes - both bill cached reads below their input rate, so warm-prefix workloads cost less than the list rates suggest. The exact cache-read rows are in the pricing table above.