Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.8

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

Claude Opus 4.6 by Anthropic and Claude Opus 4.8 by Anthropic are evenly matched across 8 benchmarks. 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 Opus 4.6 scores 1289 on Design Arena ELO compared to Claude Opus 4.8's 1262, while Claude Opus 4.6 scores 1298 on Website Arena ELO compared to Claude Opus 4.8's 1267.

Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Opus 4.8 scores 89.6% on GPQA Diamond compared to Claude Opus 4.6's 85.3%, while Claude Opus 4.8 scores 76.2% on τ²-Bench Airline compared to Claude Opus 4.6's 75.7%.

Context: In context, both score 1.0M on Context Length.

Pricing Comparison

Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.0/1M input tokens and $25.0/1M output tokens, while Claude Opus 4.8 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output. Both models are priced identically for input tokens.

Verdict

Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.8 are closely matched. The best choice depends on your specific use case and priorities.

Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.8 — FAQ

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.8?

Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.8 are evenly matched across benchmarks. The best choice depends on your specific priorities such as coding ability, speed, or pricing.

How does Claude Opus 4.6 compare to Claude Opus 4.8 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 4.6 cheaper than Claude Opus 4.8?

Both models are priced the same at $5.0/1M input tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 output costs $25.0/1M and Claude Opus 4.8 output costs $25.0/1M.

Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.8?

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 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.8 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.