Model Comparison

Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5Which is better in 2026?

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5 cost the same.

Verdict: Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5 — which is better?

Claude Opus 4.6 (by Anthropic) and Claude Opus 4.5 (by Anthropic) 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 Opus 4.6 outperforms in 9 benchmarks (ARC-AGI v2, GPQA, LiveBench, 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.

Claude Opus 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude Opus 4.6 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 9 of 10 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

Choose Claude Opus 4.5 if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

10 benchmarks

Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 9 benchmarks (ARC-AGI v2, GPQA, LiveBench, 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.

Thu Jun 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Thu Jun 25 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.5
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

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.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.5
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
Thu Jun 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

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

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Claude Opus 4.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude Opus 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Claude Opus 4.5

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.

Claude Opus 4.6

Feb 5, 2026

4 months ago

2mo newer
Claude Opus 4.5

Nov 24, 2025

7 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.

Claude Opus 4.6

—

Claude Opus 4.5

Mar 2025

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4.6 is available from Anthropic. Claude Opus 4.5 is available from Anthropic.

Claude Opus 4.6

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M

Claude Opus 4.5

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
Higher ARC-AGI v2 score (68.8% vs 37.6%)
Higher GPQA score (91.3% vs 87.0%)
Higher LiveBench score (76.3% vs 76.0%)
Higher MCP Atlas score (62.7% vs 62.3%)
Higher MMMLU score (91.1% vs 90.8%)
Higher OSWorld score (72.7% vs 66.3%)
Higher Tau2 Retail score (91.9% vs 88.9%)
Higher Tau2 Telecom score (99.3% vs 98.2%)
Higher Terminal-Bench 2.0 score (65.4% vs 59.3%)
Anthropic
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (80.9% vs 80.8%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.5

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.5?

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 is made by Anthropic and Claude Opus 4.5 is made by Anthropic. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude Opus 4.6 compare to Claude Opus 4.5 in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.6 scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.8%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Graphwalks parents >128k: 95.4%, Tau2 Retail: 91.9%. Claude Opus 4.5 scores Tau2 Telecom: 98.2%, MMMLU: 90.8%, Tau2 Retail: 88.9%, GPQA: 87.0%, SWE-Bench Verified: 80.9%.

Is Claude Opus 4.6 cheaper than Claude Opus 4.5?

Both models cost $5.00 per million input tokens.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5?

Claude Opus 4.6 supports 1.0M tokens and Claude Opus 4.5 supports 200K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5?

Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 200K). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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