Claude Opus 4 vs Gemma 2 9B
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Claude Opus 4 specs · Gemma 2 9B specs- PriceClaude Opus 4
Claude Opus 4 publishes pricing ($75.00 / 1M output tokens) while Gemma 2 9B does not.
- Context windowClaude Opus 4
Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K, 24.4× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesClaude Opus 4
Claude Opus 4 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Gemma 2 9B.
- OpennessGemma 2 9B
Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License); Claude Opus 4 is API-only.
On balance Claude Opus 4 edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Gemma 2 9B's 1. Claude Opus 4 publishes pricing ($75.00 / 1M output tokens) while Gemma 2 9B does not. Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K, 24.4× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Claude Opus 4 handles text, vision while Gemma 2 9B handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License); Claude Opus 4 is API-only.
Claude Opus 4 is the newer of the two, released 11 months after Gemma 2 9B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude Opus 4 is usually picked for coding llm and coding agent workloads, while Gemma 2 9B sees more deployments in on device and edge deployment. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude Opus 4 | Gemma 2 9B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| Released | May 2025 | Jun 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 8.2K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | $75.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-03 | , |
| Open weights | No | Yes (Gemma License) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$158 vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$1,575 vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$2,700 vs ,
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Claude Opus 4$5.25
- Gemma 2 9BPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU,71.3
- HumanEval95.0
- SWE-bench Verified72.5
Claude Opus 4 fits when…
- Set the SWE-bench bar at launch
- Excellent for writing and code
- Strong long-context handling
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 9B.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Gemma 2 9B fits when…
- Strong 9B-class quality
- Wide tooling
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Gemma License).
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude Opus 4 or Gemma 2 9B cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K for Gemma 2 9B.Is Claude Opus 4 or Gemma 2 9B better for coding?
Both Claude Opus 4 and Gemma 2 9B are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Gemma 2 9B ships open weights (Gemma License). Claude Opus 4 is API-only.When were Claude Opus 4 and Gemma 2 9B released?
Claude Opus 4 was released by Anthropic on 2025-05-22. Gemma 2 9B was released by Google on 2024-06-27.
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