Pick Claude Fable 5 for the hardest reasoning and most complex problems or long-horizon, multi-step agentic work. Pick Gemini 3.1 Pro for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window or long video and document analysis. On a tight budget at scale, Gemini 3.1 Pro is the value pick.
Claude Fable 5 (Anthropic) and Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Claude Fable 5 is anthropic's top public Mythos-class model and its most capable yet, though tier access was temporarily suspended in June 2026 under a US export-control directive. Gemini 3.1 Pro is a 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Price: Gemini 3.1 Pro is about 5× cheaper on input ($2/$12 per 1M tokens vs $10/$50 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
Context window: 1M vs 1M — within a few percent of each other, so treat this as a tie and test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
Recency: Claude Fable 5 is the newer model by about 4 months (released June 9, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
Claude Fable 5
Gemini 3.1 Pro
Provider
Anthropic (US)
Google (US)
Released
June 9, 2026
February 19, 2026
Context window
1M (~1,500 pages)
1M (~1,573 pages)
Price (in/out)
$10/$50 per 1M tokens
$2/$12 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, audio, video, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
26.3%
Who wins what
The hardest reasoning and most complex problems: Claude Fable 5 — Anthropic's top public Mythos-class model and its most capable yet, though tier access was temporarily suspended in June 2026 under a US export-control directive — and it is the newer of the two.
Long-horizon, multi-step agentic work: Claude Fable 5 — Claude Fable 5 lists long-horizon, multi-step agentic work among its strengths; Gemini 3.1 Pro does not.
Frontier-level analysis and research: Claude Fable 5 — Claude Fable 5 lists frontier-level analysis and research among its strengths; Gemini 3.1 Pro does not.
Full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1M-token window: Gemini 3.1 Pro — A 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window — and it runs cheaper at $2/$12 per 1M tokens.
Long video and document analysis: Gemini 3.1 Pro — Gemini 3.1 Pro lists long video and document analysis among its strengths; Claude Fable 5 does not.
Agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2): Gemini 3.1 Pro — Gemini 3.1 Pro lists agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2) among its strengths; Claude Fable 5 does not.
Lowest cost at scale: Gemini 3.1 Pro — At $2/$12 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Gemini 3.1 Pro — At $2/$12 per 1M tokens it undercuts Claude Fable 5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Gemini 3.1 Pro — Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is the hardest reasoning and most complex problems: Claude Fable 5 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window: Gemini 3.1 Pro — That is its strongest area.
Claude Fable 5: where it fits
Anthropic's top public Mythos-class model and its most capable yet, though tier access was temporarily suspended in June 2026 under a US export-control directive. Released June 9, 2026 by Anthropic, it is built for the hardest reasoning and most complex problems, long-horizon, multi-step agentic work, frontier-level analysis and research, and work where maximum capability outweighs cost.
Its trade-offs are real: highest price in the Claude lineup, and tier access was temporarily suspended in June 2026 under a US export-control directive. At $10 in / $50 out per million tokens, it sits in the premium price band.
Gemini 3.1 Pro: where it fits
A 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window. Released February 19, 2026 by Google, it is built for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1M-token window, long video and document analysis, agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2), and broad multimodal understanding across formats.
Its trade-offs: long-context recall drops sharply past 256K (26.3% on MRCR v2 at 1M), premium price per token at $2/$12, and superseded within Google's own line by the newer 3.5/3.6 Flash releases for cost-sensitive work. At $2 in / $12 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Claude Fable 5 and Gemini 3.1 Pro overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Gemini 3.1 Pro costs less per token; Gemini 3.1 Pro holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Claude Fable 5 for the hardest reasoning and most complex problems, Gemini 3.1 Pro for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude Fable 5 or Gemini 3.1 Pro better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Claude Fable 5 leans toward the hardest reasoning and most complex problems while Gemini 3.1 Pro leans toward full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Claude Fable 5 or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
Gemini 3.1 Pro is cheaper — $10/$50 per 1M tokens vs $2/$12 per 1M tokens, roughly 5× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Effectively neither — 1M vs 1M is a difference of a few percent. Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Claude Fable 5 and Gemini 3.1 Pro together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Claude Fable 5, Gemini 3.1 Pro and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Claude Fable 5 or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
Claude Fable 5 — released June 9, 2026, about 4 months after Gemini 3.1 Pro.
Claude Fable 5 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro
Anthropic · US | Google · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Claude Fable 5 for the hardest reasoning and most complex problems or long-horizon, multi-step agentic work. Pick Gemini 3.1 Pro for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window or long video and document analysis. On a tight budget at scale, Gemini 3.1 Pro is the value pick.
Claude Fable 5 (Anthropic) and Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Claude Fable 5 is anthropic's top public Mythos-class model and its most capable yet, though tier access was temporarily suspended in June 2026 under a US export-control directive. Gemini 3.1 Pro is a 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Price: Gemini 3.1 Pro is about 5× cheaper on input ($2/$12 per 1M tokens vs $10/$50 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
▸Context window: 1M vs 1M — within a few percent of each other, so treat this as a tie and test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
▸Recency: Claude Fable 5 is the newer model by about 4 months (released June 9, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Claude Fable 5
Gemini 3.1 Pro
Provider
Anthropic (US)
Google (US)
Released
June 9, 2026
February 19, 2026
Context window
1M (~1,500 pages)
1M (~1,573 pages)
Price (in/out)
$10/$50 per 1M tokens
$2/$12 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, audio, video, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
26.3%
Who wins what
The hardest reasoning and most complex problems
Claude Fable 5
Anthropic's top public Mythos-class model and its most capable yet, though tier access was temporarily suspended in June 2026 under a US export-control directive — and it is the newer of the two.
Long-horizon, multi-step agentic work
Claude Fable 5
Claude Fable 5 lists long-horizon, multi-step agentic work among its strengths; Gemini 3.1 Pro does not.
Frontier-level analysis and research
Claude Fable 5
Claude Fable 5 lists frontier-level analysis and research among its strengths; Gemini 3.1 Pro does not.
Full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1M-token window
Gemini 3.1 Pro
A 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window — and it runs cheaper at $2/$12 per 1M tokens.
Long video and document analysis
Gemini 3.1 Pro
Gemini 3.1 Pro lists long video and document analysis among its strengths; Claude Fable 5 does not.
Agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2)
Gemini 3.1 Pro
Gemini 3.1 Pro lists agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2) among its strengths; Claude Fable 5 does not.
Lowest cost at scale
Gemini 3.1 Pro
At $2/$12 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Gemini 3.1 Pro
At $2/$12 per 1M tokens it undercuts Claude Fable 5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Gemini 3.1 Pro
Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is the hardest reasoning and most complex problems
→ Claude Fable 5
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window
→ Gemini 3.1 Pro
That is its strongest area.
Claude Fable 5: where it fits
Anthropic's top public Mythos-class model and its most capable yet, though tier access was temporarily suspended in June 2026 under a US export-control directive. Released June 9, 2026 by Anthropic, it is built for the hardest reasoning and most complex problems, long-horizon, multi-step agentic work, frontier-level analysis and research, and work where maximum capability outweighs cost.
Its trade-offs are real: highest price in the Claude lineup, and tier access was temporarily suspended in June 2026 under a US export-control directive. At $10 in / $50 out per million tokens, it sits in the premium price band.
Gemini 3.1 Pro: where it fits
A 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window. Released February 19, 2026 by Google, it is built for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1M-token window, long video and document analysis, agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2), and broad multimodal understanding across formats.
Its trade-offs: long-context recall drops sharply past 256K (26.3% on MRCR v2 at 1M), premium price per token at $2/$12, and superseded within Google's own line by the newer 3.5/3.6 Flash releases for cost-sensitive work. At $2 in / $12 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Claude Fable 5 and Gemini 3.1 Pro overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Gemini 3.1 Pro costs less per token; Gemini 3.1 Pro holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Claude Fable 5 for the hardest reasoning and most complex problems, Gemini 3.1 Pro for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both Claude Fable 5 and Gemini 3.1 Pro without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Is Claude Fable 5 or Gemini 3.1 Pro better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Claude Fable 5 leans toward the hardest reasoning and most complex problems while Gemini 3.1 Pro leans toward full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Claude Fable 5 or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
Gemini 3.1 Pro is cheaper — $10/$50 per 1M tokens vs $2/$12 per 1M tokens, roughly 5× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Effectively neither — 1M vs 1M is a difference of a few percent. Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Claude Fable 5 and Gemini 3.1 Pro together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Claude Fable 5, Gemini 3.1 Pro and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Claude Fable 5 or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
Claude Fable 5 — released June 9, 2026, about 4 months after Gemini 3.1 Pro.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.