Claude Opus 4 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 by Anthropic wins on 14 of 16 benchmarks against Claude Opus 4 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
General Intelligence: In general intelligence, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 1395 on Chatbot Arena ELO compared to Claude Opus 4's 1375, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 84.0% on MMLU-Pro compared to Claude Opus 4's 83.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 89.0% on IFEval compared to Claude Opus 4's 88.0%.
Coding: In coding, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 91.0% on HumanEval+ compared to Claude Opus 4's 90.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 79.6% on SWE-bench Verified compared to Claude Opus 4's 72.5%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 65.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to Claude Opus 4's 60.0%.
Math: In math, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 88.0% on MATH compared to Claude Opus 4's 86.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 96.0% on GSM8K compared to Claude Opus 4's 95.0%.
Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Opus 4 scores 79.6% on GPQA Diamond compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 74.1%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 48.0% on ARC-AGI compared to Claude Opus 4's 45.0%.
Context: In context, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 1.0M on Context Length compared to Claude Opus 4's 200K.
Pricing Comparison
Claude Opus 4 costs $15.0/1M input tokens and $75.0/1M 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 generates output at 50 tok/s compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 57 tok/s, and the time to first token is 550 ms for Claude Opus 4 versus 790 ms for Claude Sonnet 4.6. Claude Sonnet 4.6 delivers faster throughput.
Verdict
Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads across the board in coding, general intelligence, math, affordability, speed, making it the stronger overall choice in this comparison.
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Claude Opus 4 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 — FAQ
Which is better, Claude Opus 4 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins on more benchmarks overall (14 vs 2). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.
How does Claude Opus 4 compare to Claude Sonnet 4.6 for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is better for coding, scoring 79.6% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 72.5%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.
Is Claude Opus 4 cheaper than Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Yes, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper. Claude Opus 4 costs $15.0/1M input and $75.0/1M output tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input and $15.0/1M output tokens.
Which is faster, Claude Opus 4 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 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 comparison cover?
This comparison covers 16 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.