Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Llama 4 Maverick

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

Claude Sonnet 4.6 by Anthropic wins on 12 of 17 benchmarks against Llama 4 Maverick by Meta, which leads on 5. 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 Llama 4 Maverick's 1280, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 84.0% on MMLU-Pro compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 80.5%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 30.5 on AA Intelligence Index compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 9.3.

Coding: In coding, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 91.0% on HumanEval+ compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 80.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 79.6% on SWE-bench Verified compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 35.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 65.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 38.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 63 on AA Coding Index compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 16.3.

Math: In math, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 88.0% on MATH compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 74.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 96.0% on GSM8K compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 89.0%.

Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 74.1% on GPQA Diamond compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 44.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 48.0% on ARC-AGI compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 22.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 33.1 on AA Agentic Index compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 0.6.

Context: In context, Llama 4 Maverick scores 1.0M on Context Length compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 1.0M.

Pricing Comparison

Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input tokens and $15.0/1M output tokens, while Llama 4 Maverick costs $0.20/1M input and $0.70/1M output. Llama 4 Maverick is the more affordable option for API usage.

Speed Comparison

Claude Sonnet 4.6 generates output at 57 tok/s compared to Llama 4 Maverick's 100 tok/s, and the time to first token is 790 ms for Claude Sonnet 4.6 versus 250 ms for Llama 4 Maverick. Llama 4 Maverick delivers faster throughput.

Verdict

For developers prioritizing coding and general intelligence and math, Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the edge. For those who value affordability and speed, Llama 4 Maverick is the stronger choice.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Llama 4 Maverick — FAQ

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Llama 4 Maverick?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins on more benchmarks overall (12 vs 5). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.

How does Claude Sonnet 4.6 compare to Llama 4 Maverick for coding?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is better for coding, scoring 79.6% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 35.0%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.

Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 cheaper than Llama 4 Maverick?

Yes, Llama 4 Maverick is cheaper. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input and $15.0/1M output tokens. Llama 4 Maverick costs $0.20/1M input and $0.70/1M output tokens.

Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Llama 4 Maverick?

Llama 4 Maverick is faster, generating output at 100 tok/s compared to 57 tok/s. Faster output speed means shorter wait times for API responses.

What benchmarks does the Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Llama 4 Maverick comparison cover?

This comparison covers 17 benchmarks including Chatbot Arena ELO, MMLU-Pro, HumanEval+, MATH, GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench Verified, Output Speed, LiveCodeBench, and more. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.