Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.

Claude Sonnet 5 by Anthropic wins on 6 of 8 benchmarks against Claude Opus 4.5 by Anthropic, which leads on 2. This head-to-head comparison covers coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing metrics from our benchmark data.

Category-by-Category Breakdown

Coding: In coding, Claude Sonnet 5 scores 1272 on Design Arena ELO compared to Claude Opus 4.5's 1242, while Claude Sonnet 5 scores 1289 on Website Arena ELO compared to Claude Opus 4.5's 1259.

Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 86.5% on GPQA Diamond compared to Claude Sonnet 5's 81.4%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 77.0% on τ²-Bench Airline compared to Claude Sonnet 5's 76.7%.

Context: In context, Claude Sonnet 5 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 5 costs $2.0/1M input and $10.0/1M output. Claude Sonnet 5 is the more affordable option for API usage.

Verdict

Claude Sonnet 5 leads across the board in affordability, making it the stronger overall choice in this comparison.

Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5 — FAQ

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 5?

Claude Sonnet 5 wins on more benchmarks overall (6 vs 2). 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 5 for coding?

SWE-bench Verified data is not available for both models. Check the detailed comparison charts above for other coding-related metrics.

Is Claude Opus 4.5 cheaper than Claude Sonnet 5?

Yes, Claude Sonnet 5 is cheaper. Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output tokens. Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2.0/1M input and $10.0/1M output tokens.

Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 5?

Output speed data is not available for both models. Check the speed section of the comparison above for available performance data.

What benchmarks does the Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5 comparison cover?

This comparison covers 8 benchmarks including GPQA Diamond, Input Cost, Output Cost, Context Length, Cached Input Cost, Design Arena ELO, τ²-Bench Airline, Website Arena ELO. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.