ClaudevsClaude

Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 5

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 5

Mid-tier
Input $/MTok
$5.00
$2.00
Output $/MTok
$25.00
$10.00
Cache discount
90% off
90% off
Context
1M
1M

Quality

Task confidence comparison

Confidence score from zero to one hundred by task type, where higher is better.
Code Generation
63
vs
68
Code Review
94
vs
96
Summarization
69
vs
64
Q&A
85
vs
89
Extraction
73
vs
70
Reasoning
89
vs
89
Classification
80
vs
86
Creative Writing
81
vs
62
Claude Opus 4.8
Claude Sonnet 5

Guidance

When to use Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 5

Choose Claude Opus 4.8 when...

  • -You need strong creative writing (confidence 81 vs 62)
  • -You need strong extraction (confidence 73 vs 70)
  • -You need strong summarization (confidence 69 vs 64)

Choose Claude Sonnet 5 when...

  • -You need strong code review (confidence 96 vs 94)
  • -You need strong q&a (confidence 89 vs 85)
  • -You need strong classification (confidence 86 vs 80)
  • -You need strong code generation (confidence 68 vs 63)
  • -Cost matters: 60% 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 5
100K tokens
$1.10
$0.44Cheaper
1M tokens
$11.00
$4.40Cheaper
10M tokens
$110.00
$44.00Cheaper

FAQ

When should I use Claude Opus 4.8 instead of Claude Sonnet 5?

Claude Opus 4.8 outperforms Claude Sonnet 5 for Summarization, Extraction, Creative Writing. It costs $5.00/$25.00 per million tokens (input/output).

Is Claude Sonnet 5 cheaper than Claude Opus 4.8?

Yes. Claude Sonnet 5 input costs $2.00/MTok vs $5.00/MTok for Claude Opus 4.8, saving 60% on input.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Sonnet 5?

Claude Opus 4.8 has a 1M token context window. Claude Sonnet 5 has a 1M token context window.

Track your real costs

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