Claude API vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen

Claude API 92

Model reading. Personal and service-account keys for one workspace or several, chosen at creation, with expiry from 3 hours to never (capped by org policy), disable and delete, plus Workload Identity Federation for short-lived tokens, re-read 1 November. No permission scopes below the workspace, so 25 of 30 (a judgement call, OpenAI's endpoint-scoped keys get 30). No training on API data without express permission, per the 15 October check (20). Conversation content is not retained by default except on the Covered Models (Fable 5.1, Mythos 5.1, Fable 5 and Mythos 5), which require 30-day retention and are outside ZDR unless Anthropic expressly authorises it, re-read 1 November, and the privacy centre caps retention at 30 days, per the 15 October check (12 of 15). Usage and Cost API (legacy from 29 October, replaced by the Usage and Cost Analytics API in beta with per-key and per-user grouping), a Compliance API activity feed, and OpenTelemetry export of Messages API spans in beta since 14 October (15). security.txt valid to 2026-12-31 with a HackerOne contact and a disclosure policy, re-read 1 November, and SOC 2 Type I and Type II, ISO 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 42001:2023, per the 15 October check (20). 25 + 20 + 12 + 15 + 20 = 92.

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 50

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Keys bound to a service account and restricted to the Gemini API, with no scopes and a token accepted in the URL (15 of 30, the platform's deduction). Hydrogen is on the free tier, where Google's terms say content is used to improve products and may be read by humans; paid-tier content isn't (10 of 20, the platform's reading; Carbon, paid tier only, got 15). Abuse retention has no number and new paid projects store requests by default since 26 October; Google's prompt-injection figure (2.3 times more resilient on Gray Swan's benchmark) is its own, and the model card says jailbreak resistance is still being improved (5 of 15). Request logs for billed projects (15). security.txt and a reward programme, no certification naming the API (5 of 20). 15 + 10 + 5 + 15 + 5 = 50.

Claude API 60

Status page at status.claude.com with component history (20). In the last 90 days (3 August to 1 November) the history pages, re-read 1 November (status.claude.com's robots.txt disallows /api/, so the incident API wasn't used), label many API incidents major and two critical, among them elevated errors across many models on 4 August (20:48 to 21:59 UTC), a critical service disruption on 16 August (21:58 to 22:34 UTC), elevated errors on Claude models on 24 August (04:50 to 07:36 UTC by the resolution note), on Mythos 5.1, Fable 5.1 and Opus 5 on 3 September (posted 13:26, impact ended 16:16 UTC), on multiple models on 22 September (posted 00:57, resolved 02:35 UTC) and on claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork and the API on 29 September (14:00 to 14:59 UTC), so several majors (0). Since 17 October the history adds a critical incident on 23 October (Fable 5.1, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and fast mode on Opus 5.5, 23:28 to 23:59 UTC), and majors on Opus 5.5 on 24 October (00:31 to 00:37 UTC), Fable 5 and 5.1 on 24 October (05:16 to 05:53 UTC), Sonnet 5.5 and other models on 25 October (06:05 to 06:35 UTC by the resolution note), Fable 5.1 on 25 October (08:17 to 08:49 UTC) and Sonnet 5.5 twice on 27 October (09:14 to 09:56 and 15:09 to 15:50 UTC). The 21 and 29 July incidents left the window. Rate limits published per model, 4,000 requests a minute at the Start tier on Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and Fable 5.x and 1,000 on older models, re-read 1 November (15). 429s carry retry-after (except the spend-cap 429) and the SDKs retry with backoff (15). No SLA on sale. Priority Tier capacity commitments are no longer available for purchase, re-read 1 November, and a target isn't a commitment (0, a judgement call). Messages API is GA (10). 20 + 0 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 60. Graded by agents running on Claude, by the same checklist as every other listing.

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 45

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Status page at aistudio.google.com/status with no readable components or history (10 of 20) and no readable incident record (5 of 30). Rate-limit tiers and spend limits published, per-model limits in AI Studio (5 of 15). Backoff guidance for 429 and 503 and SDK retries (15). No SLA (0). Google Cloud's release notes and model page call Hydrogen generally available, a short-term release, under the same model ID; the Gemini API pages read don't name a stage, so full marks rest on Cloud's statement (10, a judgement call; Carbon, with no stage stated anywhere, got 5). 10 + 5 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 45.

Claude API 85

Closed service with clear commercial terms (effective 17 June 2025, re-read 1 November, with Anthropic Ireland, Limited as the contracting party for customers in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK and Anthropic, PBC elsewhere, per the 15 October check). The SDKs moved from MIT to Apache 2.0 with the major versions of 21 October, both OSI licences (15). The privacy policy is effective 10 September 2026, re-read 1 November. Retention is stated two ways, 'not retained by default' in the docs (except the Covered Models, which require 30 days) and 'automatically delete inputs and outputs on our backend within 30 days' in the privacy centre article updated 1 July 2026, per the 15 October check, so an operator can't tell which applies to a given call (20 of 30). Deprecation page with announcement and retirement dates (20). Processing countries named (US, Europe, Asia, Australia) and storage stated as US in the privacy centre, per the 15 October check, with the subprocessor list at trust.anthropic.com per the 1 October check (20). 15 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 75.

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 72

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Closed service with clear terms, SDKs Apache-2.0 (15). Free-tier content is used to improve products, paid-tier content isn't, abuse retention has no number, and request storage is on by default for new paid projects; the statements agree with each other (20 of 30). Deprecations table, and a stated 45-day minimum on Cloud (15 of 20). Data may be cached anywhere Google has facilities; no subprocessor list checked (5 of 20). A DeepMind model card gives a March 2026 knowledge cutoff, automated safety results and Frontier Safety Framework outcomes, with the full safety report marked coming soon. Every benchmark figure is Google's own. 15 + 20 + 15 + 5 = 55.

Claude API 91

Model reading. The newest release notes are dated 28 October (request size limit raised to 128 MB), 29 October (Usage and Cost Analytics API in beta) and 30 October 2026 (fast mode on Opus 4.8 deprecated, removal on 30 November) (30). Published minimum notice of 60 days for model retirements, by email and in the docs, re-read 1 November; the Opus 4.8 fast mode removal gets 31 days, which the 60-day policy doesn't cover since the model stays, and the feature is a research preview on that model (8 of 12). One model shutdown date in the last 90 days, Opus 4.1 on 5 August, kept to its notice (8 of 8). Dated release notes several times a week and a support centre (15 of 15). The Python SDK had 52 open issues, and a sampled strict-tool bug opened on 10 September had no reply three weeks later, per the 1 October check, not re-read (5 of 10). Current official SDKs, Python anthropic 2.3.0 and TypeScript sdk-v1.3.0, both tagged 23 October, after new major versions (Python 2.0.0, TypeScript 1.0.0) on 21 October that send API version 2026-10-21 by default (15). Supported runtimes stated, Python 3.10 to 3.14 (10). 30 + 8 + 8 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 10 = 91.

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 85

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Released on 12 November 2026, recorded in Google Cloud's release notes; the Gemini API changelog, last updated 30 October, has no entry for it yet (30). Google Cloud states a minimum of 45 days' notice before Hydrogen is retired, short and stated for Cloud only; the Gemini API's deprecations give earliest dates with no stated minimum (6 of 12). Shutdowns in the last 90 days kept to their table (4 of 8). Dated changelog (15). SDK replies not sampled (5 of 10). Current SDKs; the developer guide names the minimum google-genai, @google/genai, Go and Java versions (15). Runtimes stated (10). 30 + 6 + 4 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 10 = 85.

Claude API 90

No OpenAPI document in the docs. The Python SDK repository bundles a Stainless-generated OpenAPI 3.1 file (scripts/mock-spec.json.gz, 234 paths including /v1/messages, last changed 23 October, read from a clone on 1 November), which we count as half a contract (15 of 25, a judgement call). The akeyless and basecamp dossiers gave 25 for an OpenAPI file kept in an SDK repository. This one is the gzipped mock-server spec under scripts/ and the docs don't link it, so we keep the stricter reading. llms.txt indexes 845 pages, each with a Markdown twin, re-read 1 November (10). The reference documents each parameter and the models page says to start with Opus 5.5 for most workloads (20). Structured outputs and strict tool use are GA with grammar-constrained sampling, though the API doesn't enforce minimum, maximum, minLength or maxLength and the SDKs move them into descriptions, per the 15 October check (15). The errors page lists 11 error types with a request_id, re-read 1 November, and examples run through the docs (15). anthropic-version header, with a second version, 2026-10-21, released on 21 October beside 2023-06-01 and documented with a migration guide, and dated release notes with an RSS feed, newest 30 October (15). 15 + 10 + 20 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 90.

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 85

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Discovery document for GenerateContent (20 of 25). llms.txt with Markdown twins (10). The Cloud developer guide says what Hydrogen takes, every parameter that's ignored or returns 400, the thought-signature rules and how to migrate from Gemini 3.8 Flash, though it doesn't document forced calls (15 of 20). Structured output to a JSON Schema with some keywords not enforced (10 of 15). Examples and an errors page (15). Dated changelog and model versions (15). 20 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 15 + 15 = 85.

Claude API 95

Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool use with parallel calls, 15 of 20 because tool_choice any or tool returns 400 on Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1, re-read 1 November, so a tool can't be forced on the larger current models. Structured outputs GA (15). Prompt caching with reads at 0.1x input, 0.05x on Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 and 0.025x on Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 (15). 1M context on the default model (15). Batch at half price (10). Official SDKs in Python, TypeScript, Java, Go, Ruby, C# and PHP, all with new major versions on 21 October (10). Documented error types, retry-after and SDK retries with backoff (15). The request size limit for Messages and token counting rose from 32 MB to 128 MB on 28 October. 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 15 = 95.

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 90

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Function calling, with forced calls by FunctionCallingConfig on the API (20). Structured output to a response_schema, listed as supported on the Cloud model page (13 of 15). Implicit caching on prefixes of 4,096 tokens or more with durable caching on by default and explicit caches not supported, per the Cloud model page; the announcement names no cached-input price (12 of 15). 1,048,576 tokens shared between input and output, with background long decode up to 1M (15). Batch at half price on the platform (10). Python and JavaScript SDKs, and an OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions surface (10). Error codes with backoff guidance (10 of 15). 20 + 13 + 12 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 90.