Model Comparison

Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is 1.7x cheaper per token.

Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, MMMLU, OSWorld), while Claude Sonnet 4.5 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($3.00/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($15.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.6 is more expensive than Claude Sonnet 4.5.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
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 Sonnet 4.5's 200,000 tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 is limited to 64,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 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 Sonnet 4.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.6 was released on 2026-02-05, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 was released on 2025-09-29.

Claude Opus 4.6 is 4 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.5.

Claude Opus 4.6

Feb 5, 2026

2 months ago

4mo newer
Claude Sonnet 4.5

Sep 29, 2025

6 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while Claude Opus 4.6's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Claude Sonnet 4.5's training data extends to 2025-01-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude Opus 4.6's cutoff date.

Claude Opus 4.6

—

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Jan 2025

Provider Availability

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

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
* 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 AIME 2025 score (99.8% vs 87.0%)
Higher GPQA score (91.3% vs 83.4%)
Higher MMMLU score (91.1% vs 89.1%)
Higher OSWorld score (72.7% vs 61.4%)
Anthropic
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens

Detailed Comparison

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

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 is made by Anthropic and Claude Sonnet 4.5 is made by Anthropic. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.
Claude Opus 4.6 scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.8%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Graphwalks parents >128k: 95.4%, MRCR v2 (8-needle): 93.0%. Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores MMMLU: 89.1%, AIME 2025: 87.0%, TAU-bench Retail: 86.2%, GPQA: 83.4%, MMMUval: 77.8%.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is 1.7x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic.
Claude Opus 4.6 supports 1.0M tokens and Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 200K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.
Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 200K), input pricing ($5.00 vs $3.00/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.