Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Claude Opus 4.6
Compare Anthropic and Anthropic AI models
Cost Comparison (1000 input + 500 output tokens, 100 requests/day)
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Claude Opus 4.6
Cost Differences
Claude Opus 4.6 costs more than Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Claude Opus 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Input Price | $3.00/1M tokens | $5.00/1M tokens |
| Output Price | $15.00/1M tokens | $25.00/1M tokens |
| Context Window | 200,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max Output | 8,192 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Category | balanced | flagship |
| Capabilities | textvisioncode | textvisionreasoningcode |
| Release Date | 10/22/2024 | 2/5/2026 |
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Claude Opus 4.6: Which Should You Choose?
Choosing between Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude Opus 4.6 depends on your priorities: cost efficiency, context length, or raw capability. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the more affordable option at $3.00/1M input tokens — 40% cheaper than Claude Opus 4.6. Meanwhile, Claude Opus 4.6 offers a significantly larger context window at 1,000,000 tokens vs 200,000 for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
These models target different tiers: Claude 3.5 Sonnet is a balanced model while Claude Opus 4.6 is flagship. This means they're optimized for different workloads. Claude Opus 4.6 targets more demanding workloads, while Claude 3.5 Sonnet provides a cost-effective option for everyday tasks.
Output costs matter too. Claude 3.5 Sonnet charges $15.00/1M output tokens vs $25.00 for Claude Opus 4.6. For generation-heavy workloads (content creation, code generation, summarization), output pricing often dominates your bill. Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the edge here at $15.00/1M output tokens.
Multimodal capabilities: Both models support vision (image understanding), so you can send images alongside text prompts with either option.
Best Use Cases
Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet when:
- • Budget is a primary concern
- • You're already using Anthropic's API ecosystem
Choose Claude Opus 4.6 when:
- • You need a larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
- • You need more capabilities (reasoning)
- • You need longer outputs (up to 128,000 tokens)
- • You're already using Anthropic's API ecosystem
Try Different Scenarios
Use the calculator below to see how costs change with different usage patterns
Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Anthropic)
Claude Opus 4.6 (Anthropic)
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