Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs o3 Mini
Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 by Anthropic wins on 8 of 15 benchmarks against o3 Mini by OpenAI, 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 Sonnet 4.6 scores 1395 on Chatbot Arena ELO compared to o3 Mini's 1320, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 84.0% on MMLU-Pro compared to o3 Mini's 78.0%.
Coding: In coding, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 91.0% on HumanEval+ compared to o3 Mini's 87.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 79.6% on SWE-bench Verified compared to o3 Mini's 50.0%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 65.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to o3 Mini's 55.0%.
Math: In math, o3 Mini scores 93.0% on MATH compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 88.0%, while o3 Mini scores 97.0% on GSM8K compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6's 96.0%.
Reasoning: In reasoning, o3 Mini scores 77.0% 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 o3 Mini's 45.0%.
Context: In context, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 1.0M on Context Length compared to o3 Mini's 200K.
Pricing Comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input tokens and $15.0/1M output tokens, while o3 Mini costs $1.1/1M input and $4.4/1M output. o3 Mini is the more affordable option for API usage.
Speed Comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.6 generates output at 57 tok/s compared to o3 Mini's 100 tok/s, and the time to first token is 790 ms for Claude Sonnet 4.6 versus 400 ms for o3 Mini. o3 Mini delivers faster throughput.
Verdict
For developers prioritizing coding and general intelligence, Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the edge. For those who value math and affordability and speed, o3 Mini is the stronger choice.
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Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs o3 Mini — FAQ
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or o3 Mini?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins on more benchmarks overall (8 vs 7). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.
How does Claude Sonnet 4.6 compare to o3 Mini for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is better for coding, scoring 79.6% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 50.0%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.
Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 cheaper than o3 Mini?
Yes, o3 Mini is cheaper. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.0/1M input and $15.0/1M output tokens. o3 Mini costs $1.1/1M input and $4.4/1M output tokens.
Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or o3 Mini?
o3 Mini 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 o3 Mini comparison cover?
This comparison covers 15 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.