Model Comparison
Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5
Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5 cost the same.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 8 benchmarks (ARC-AGI v2, GPQA, MCP Atlas, MMMLU, OSWorld, Tau2 Retail, Tau2 Telecom, Terminal-Bench 2.0), while Claude Opus 4.5 is better at 1 benchmark (SWE-Bench Verified).
Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($5.00/1M tokens) costs the same as Claude Opus 4.5 ($5.00/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($25.00/1M tokens) costs the same as Claude Opus 4.5 ($25.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5 cost the same.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude Opus 4.6 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Claude Opus 4.5's 200,000 tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Claude Opus 4.5 is limited to 64,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5 support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude Opus 4.6
Claude Opus 4.5
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 Opus 4.6 was released on 2026-02-05, while Claude Opus 4.5 was released on 2025-11-24.
Claude Opus 4.6 is 2 months newer than Claude Opus 4.5.
Feb 5, 2026
2 months ago
2mo newerNov 24, 2025
4 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Claude Opus 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-03-31, while Claude Opus 4.6's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Claude Opus 4.5's training data extends to 2025-03-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude Opus 4.6's cutoff date.
—
Mar 2025
Provider Availability
Claude Opus 4.6 is available from Anthropic. Claude Opus 4.5 is available from Anthropic.
Claude Opus 4.6
Claude Opus 4.5
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude Opus 4.6
View detailsAnthropic
Claude Opus 4.5
View detailsAnthropic
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5