Model Comparison
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs o1-miniWhich is better in 2026?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. o1-mini is 1.1x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs o1-mini — which is better?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet (by Anthropic) and o1-mini (by OpenAI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, MMLU), while o1-mini is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, o1-mini is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2024
Choose o1-mini if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, MMLU), while o1-mini is better at 0 benchmarks.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($3.00/1M tokens) costs the same as o1-mini ($3.00/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($15.00/1M tokens) is 1.3x more expensive than o1-mini ($12.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3.5 Sonnet is more expensive than o1-mini.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to o1-mini's 128,000 tokens. Claude 3.5 Sonnet can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while o1-mini is limited to 65,536 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports multimodal inputs, whereas o1-mini does not.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
o1-mini
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released on 2024-10-22, while o1-mini was released on 2024-09-12.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is 1 month newer than o1-mini.
Oct 22, 2024
1.6 years ago
1mo newerSep 12, 2024
1.7 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. o1-mini is available from OpenAI, Azure.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
o1-mini
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
View detailsAnthropic
o1-mini
View detailsOpenAI
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs o1-mini.