ClaudevsClaude

Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6

Side-by-side comparison of pricing, task quality, and projected cost at higher scale.

Pricing

Side-by-side pricing

Claude Opus 4.8

Flagship

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Mid-tier
Input $/MTok
$5.00
$3.00
Output $/MTok
$25.00
$15.00
Cache discount
90% off
90% off
Context
200K
200K

Quality

Task confidence comparison

Confidence score from zero to one hundred by task type, where higher is better.
Code Generation
95
vs
92
Code Review
94
vs
95
Summarization
88
vs
90
Q&A
85
vs
88
Extraction
82
vs
86
Reasoning
97
vs
88
Classification
80
vs
84
Creative Writing
93
vs
85
Claude Opus 4.8
Claude Sonnet 4.6

Guidance

When to use Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6

Choose Claude Opus 4.8 when...

  • -You need strong reasoning (confidence 97 vs 88)
  • -You need strong code generation (confidence 95 vs 92)
  • -You need strong creative writing (confidence 93 vs 85)

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when...

  • -You need strong code review (confidence 95 vs 94)
  • -You need strong summarization (confidence 90 vs 88)
  • -You need strong q&a (confidence 88 vs 85)
  • -You need strong extraction (confidence 86 vs 82)
  • -Cost matters: 40% cheaper on input tokens

At scale

Cost at scale

Estimated cost assuming a seventy percent input and thirty percent output token split.
Claude Opus 4.8
Claude Sonnet 4.6
100K tokens
$1.10
$0.66Cheaper
1M tokens
$11.00
$6.60Cheaper
10M tokens
$110.00
$66.00Cheaper

FAQ

When should I use Claude Opus 4.8 instead of Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude Opus 4.8 outperforms Claude Sonnet 4.6 for Reasoning, Code Generation, Creative Writing. It costs $5.00/$25.00 per million tokens (input/output).

Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 cheaper than Claude Opus 4.8?

Yes. Claude Sonnet 4.6 input costs $3.00/MTok vs $5.00/MTok for Claude Opus 4.8, saving 40% on input.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude Opus 4.8 has a 200K token context window. Claude Sonnet 4.6 has a 200K token context window.

Track your real costs

Comparisons show estimated costs at list price. The dashboard reveals your real spend and savings.