Claude vs Gemini: why not both?

The short answer

You do not have to choose. Anthropic and Google both ship new models every few months, so whichever one is ahead today may not be next quarter. Keep both open on one screen and you always have the other one a click away.

What you get with each

Claude is Anthropic's assistant. Through the API you reach the same family: Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Haiku 4.5.

Gemini is Google's. Through the API: Gemini 3.8 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro, Gemini 3.7 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.

Where they differ most

Cost is the first difference: Gemini has a free API tier and Claude does not. Both can search the web and run code here, but Claude's code execution can hand back downloadable files, while Gemini grounds its answers in Google Search and has image models. Both read PDFs natively, so you can give the same file to each.

Using both at once

• In Multi-screen mode each panel is its own chat: one with Claude, one with Gemini, or more.
• Talk to each one separately, or send one message to both from the bar at the bottom.
• Send an answer from one panel to the other to have it checked.
• Merge both answers into one with the model you trust most.

Up to six panels run at once, so add Grok, DeepSeek or a free model next to them. More in Multi-screen mode and Test mode.

What each can do in MultiScreenAI

• Claude can search the web with sources, run code that hands you real downloadable files, and reads PDFs natively.
• Gemini can ground answers in Google Search, run code, read PDFs natively, and has Nano Banana image models.

Switch the tools on in a panel's header: Web search, code and real files.

What it costs

Anthropic bills the API per token, with no monthly fee and no permanent free tier. Google has a free Gemini API tier in AI Studio that needs no card, with daily limits; past that it bills per token. You pay each company directly at its own rate; MultiScreenAI adds nothing on top and is free during the beta. Want to start at zero? See every free API key.

When you do need to pick one: test them

1. Switch to Test mode. One prompt goes to every panel.
2. Turn on Blind test so the names are hidden as Model A and Model B.
3. Each answer is timed: time to first word, total time and words per second.
4. Star the better answer, then reveal who wrote it. Try five or six kinds of task before you decide.

Prompts worth testing

• A real email you need to write, with the background pasted in.
• A bug from your own code, with the full error message.
• A long PDF you need summarised, plus three questions about it.
• An instruction with several rules, such as "under 120 words, no jargon, end with a question".
• A question you already know the answer to, to catch confident mistakes.