Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.
Claude Opus 4.5 by Anthropic wins on 11 of 18 benchmarks against Claude Sonnet 4.6 by Anthropic, which leads on 7. This head-to-head comparison covers coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing metrics from our benchmark data.
Category-by-Category Breakdown
General Intelligence: In general intelligence, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 1468 on Chatbot Arena ELO compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 1395, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 89.5% on MMLU-Pro compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 84.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 90.0% on IFEval compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 89.0%.
Coding: In coding, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 92.0% on HumanEval+ compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 91.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 80.9% on SWE-bench Verified compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 79.6%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 70.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 65.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 74.0% on Aider Polyglot compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 70.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 70.3% on BFCL compared to Claude Opus 4.5's 70.0%.
Math: In math, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 90.0% on MATH compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 88.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 96.5% on GSM8K compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 96.0%.
Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 87.0% on GPQA Diamond compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 74.1%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 57.0% on ARC-AGI compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 48.0%.
Context: In context, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 1.0M on Context Length compared to Claude Opus 4.5's 200K.
Pricing Comparison
Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input tokens and $25.0/1M output tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input and $15.0/1M output. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the more affordable option for API usage.
Speed Comparison
Claude Opus 4.5 generates output at 50 tok/s compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 57 tok/s, and the time to first token is 1700 ms for Claude Opus 4.5 versus 790 ms for Claude Sonnet 4.6. Claude Sonnet 4.6 delivers faster throughput.
Verdict
For developers prioritizing coding and general intelligence and math, Claude Opus 4.5 has the edge. For those who value affordability and speed, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the stronger choice.
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Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 — FAQ
Which is better, Claude Opus 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Opus 4.5 wins on more benchmarks overall (11 vs 7). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.
How does Claude Opus 4.5 compare to Claude Sonnet 4.6 for coding?
Claude Opus 4.5 is better for coding, scoring 80.9% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 79.6%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.
Is Claude Opus 4.5 cheaper than Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Yes, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper. Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input and $15.0/1M output tokens.
Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is faster, generating output at 57 tok/s compared to 50 tok/s. Faster output speed means shorter wait times for API responses.
What benchmarks does the Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 comparison cover?
This comparison covers 18 benchmarks including Chatbot Arena ELO, MMLU-Pro, HumanEval+, IFEval, MATH, GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench Verified, Output Speed, and more. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.