tokevenClaudevsClaude
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 5
Mid-tierInput $/MTok
$3.00
$2.00
Output $/MTok
$15.00
$10.00
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
92
vs
93
Code Review
95
vs
96
Summarization
90
vs
91
Q&A
88
vs
89
Extraction
86
vs
88
Reasoning
88
vs
90
Classification
84
vs
86
Creative Writing
85
vs
87
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Sonnet 5
Guidance
When to use Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when...
- Similar performance; consider provider preference or ecosystem fit.
Choose Claude Sonnet 5 when...
- -You need strong code review (confidence 96 vs 95)
- -You need strong code generation (confidence 93 vs 92)
- -You need strong summarization (confidence 91 vs 90)
- -You need strong reasoning (confidence 90 vs 88)
- -Cost matters: 33% cheaper on input tokens
At scale
Cost at scale
Estimated cost assuming a seventy percent input and thirty percent output token split.
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Sonnet 5
100K tokens
$0.66
$0.44Cheaper
1M tokens
$6.60
$4.40Cheaper
10M tokens
$66.00
$44.00Cheaper
FAQ
When should I use Claude Sonnet 4.6 instead of Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 5 perform similarly across all tracked tasks. Pick based on pricing and provider preference.
Is Claude Sonnet 5 cheaper than Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Yes. Claude Sonnet 5 input costs $2.00/MTok vs $3.00/MTok for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving 33% on input.
What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has a 200K token context window. Claude Sonnet 5 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.