Claude Sonnet 5 pricing for categorization

Quick start

Call Claude Sonnet 5 with the Anthropic Python SDK:

from anthropic import Anthropic

client = Anthropic()
response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-5",
    max_tokens=150,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your prompt here"}]
)
# Cost: ~$0.003100 per call at standard rates
# Input:  $2.00/MTok
# Output: $10.00/MTok

How Claude Sonnet 5 compares on cost

Per-call cost for all models scoring 50+ on categorization benchmarks. Hover for details.

Cheapest viable option: GPT 5.6 Luna at $0.000340/call (89% less, 91/100 quality).

What drives categorization cost

Classification into a fixed taxonomy is token-efficient by construction: the taxonomy is the same on every call and the output is one label. Put the taxonomy in the cached prefix and the marginal cost per item approaches the cost of the item text alone. Model tier matters less here than in any other use case tracked.

For Claude Sonnet 5 specifically, that means output tokens cost 5.0x more than input, at $10.00 vs $2.00 per MTok. At this use case’s 800/150 token split, output accounts for 48% of the $0.003100 per-call cost.

Claude Sonnet 5 quality benchmarks for categorization

Performance across all task types

Claude Sonnet 5 scores by task type. Categorization highlighted.

Confidence scores are a third-party benchmark snapshot from week 29 of 2026. This snapshot is 8 weeks old, so treat the scores as directional and validate against your own evals.

About Claude Sonnet 5

Launched at $2/$10 as introductory pricing through Aug 31, 2026. Anthropic cancelled the scheduled increase to $3/$15, so this is now the standard price.

Other models from Claude

You can compare Claude Sonnet 5 head-to-head against any other model on our model comparison pages, or track how pricing has changed over time on the pricing history tracker.

Frequently asked questions