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Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is 11.4x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · Meituan · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (BrowseComp, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, SWE-Bench Verified, Tau2 Retail), while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is better at 1 benchmark (Tau2 Telecom). Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is roughly 11.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 6 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

Choose LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

  • cost matters — it's about 11.4x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Sonnet 4.6
Anthropic
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Meituan
Benchmark wins
5 of 6
1 of 6
Input price
$3.00 / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
$15.00 / M
$1.20 / M
Context window
200,000
128,000
Released
Feb 2026
Jan 2026
License
Proprietary
MIT

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

6 benchmarks

Claude Sonnet 4.6 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (BrowseComp, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, SWE-Bench Verified, Tau2 Retail), while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is better at 1 benchmark (Tau2 Telecom).

Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 12.5x more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 ($1.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerAnthropic
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.20
Best providerMeituan
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Sonnet 4.6 accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601's 128,000 tokens. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 is limited to 64,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 does not.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is licensed under a proprietary license, while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 uses MIT.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released on 2026-02-17, while LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 was released on 2026-01-14.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is 1 month newer than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Feb 17, 2026

6 months ago

1mo newer
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

Jan 14, 2026

7 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is available from Anthropic. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is available from Meituan.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601

meituan logo
Meituan
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.6 and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 4.6
✓ Preferred
LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is made by Anthropic and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is made by Meituan. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude Sonnet 4.6 compare to LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores Tau2 Telecom: 97.9%, Tau2 Retail: 91.7%, GPQA: 89.9%, MMMLU: 89.3%, SWE-Bench Verified: 79.6%. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 scores AIME 2025: 99.6%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Tau2 Retail: 88.6%, LiveCodeBench: 82.8%, GPQA: 80.5%.

Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 cheaper than LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is 10.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic. LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 costs $0.30/M input and $1.20/M output via meituan.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports 200K tokens and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Sonnet 4.6 and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

Key differences include context window (200K vs 128K), input pricing ($3.00 vs $0.30/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 4.6 and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is developed by Anthropic and LongCat-Flash-Thinking-2601 is developed by Meituan.

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