tokevenClaudevsClaude
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 5
Side-by-side comparison of pricing, task quality, and projected cost at higher scale.
Pricing
Side-by-side pricing
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Mid-tierClaude Opus 5
FlagshipInput $/MTok
$3.00
$5.00
Output $/MTok
$15.00
$25.00
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
57
vs
72
Code Review
95
vs
0
Summarization
61
vs
65
Q&A
88
vs
0
Extraction
71
vs
73
Reasoning
85
vs
91
Classification
84
vs
0
Creative Writing
69
vs
61
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Opus 5
Guidance
When to use Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 5
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when...
- -You need strong creative writing (confidence 69 vs 61)
- -Cost matters: 40% cheaper on input tokens
Choose Claude Opus 5 when...
- -You need strong reasoning (confidence 91 vs 85)
- -You need strong extraction (confidence 73 vs 71)
- -You need strong code generation (confidence 72 vs 57)
- -You need strong summarization (confidence 65 vs 61)
At scale
Cost at scale
Estimated cost assuming a seventy percent input and thirty percent output token split.
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Opus 5
100K tokens
$0.66Cheaper
$1.10
1M tokens
$6.60Cheaper
$11.00
10M tokens
$66.00Cheaper
$110.00
FAQ
When should I use Claude Sonnet 4.6 instead of Claude Opus 5?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 outperforms Claude Opus 5 for Creative Writing. It costs $3.00/$15.00 per million tokens (input/output).
Is Claude Opus 5 cheaper than Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Opus 5 input costs $5.00/MTok, which is 67% more than Claude Sonnet 4.6 at $3.00/MTok.
What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Opus 5?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has a 1M token context window. Claude Opus 5 has a 1M token context window.
Go deeper on either model
Per-call cost calculators, provider lineups, and price history for both models on this page.
Other comparisons
How Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Opus 5 stack up against the rest of the field.
Track your real costs
Comparisons show estimated costs at list price. The dashboard reveals your real spend and savings.