ClaudevsClaude

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-tier

Claude Opus 5

Flagship
Input $/MTok
$3.00
$5.00
Output $/MTok
$15.00
$25.00
Cache discount
90% off
90% off
Context
200K
1,000K

Quality

Task confidence comparison

Confidence score from zero to one hundred by task type, where higher is better.
Code Generation
92
vs
0
Code Review
95
vs
0
Summarization
90
vs
0
Q&A
88
vs
0
Extraction
86
vs
0
Reasoning
88
vs
0
Classification
84
vs
0
Creative Writing
85
vs
0
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...

  • -Cost matters: 40% cheaper on input tokens

Choose Claude Opus 5 when...

  • -You need a larger context window (1,000K vs 200K)
  • Similar performance; consider provider preference or ecosystem fit.

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 and Claude Opus 5 perform similarly across all tracked tasks. Pick based on pricing and provider preference.

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 200K token context window. Claude Opus 5 has a 1,000K token context window.

Track your real costs

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