Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Sonnet 4.6

Compare Anthropic and Anthropic AI models

Anthropic

Claude 3 Opus

Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 4.6

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Cost Comparison (1000 input + 500 output tokens, 100 requests/day)

Claude 3 Opus

Per Request:$0.0525

Daily:$5.25

Monthly:$157.50

Yearly:$1,916.25

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Per Request:$0.0105

Daily:$1.05

Monthly:$31.50

Yearly:$383.25

Cost Differences

$0.042

Per Request

$4.20

Daily

$126.00

Monthly

$1,533.00

Yearly

Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs less than Claude 3 Opus

Feature Comparison

Feature	Claude 3 Opus	Claude Sonnet 4.6
Provider	Anthropic	Anthropic
Input Price	$15.00/1M tokens	$3.00/1M tokens
Output Price	$75.00/1M tokens	$15.00/1M tokens
Context Window	200,000 tokens	1,000,000 tokens
Max Output	4,096 tokens	65,536 tokens
Category	flagship	balanced
Capabilities	textvisionreasoning	textvisioncodereasoningcomputer-use
Release Date	3/4/2024	2/18/2026

Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Sonnet 4.6: Which Should You Choose?

Choosing between Claude 3 Opus and Claude Sonnet 4.6 depends on your priorities: cost efficiency, context length, or raw capability. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the more affordable option at $3.00/1M input tokens — 80% cheaper than Claude 3 Opus. Meanwhile, Claude Sonnet 4.6 offers a significantly larger context window at 1,000,000 tokens vs 200,000 for Claude 3 Opus.

These models target different tiers: Claude 3 Opus is a flagship model while Claude Sonnet 4.6 is balanced. This means they're optimized for different workloads. Claude 3 Opus is built for complex tasks that require deeper reasoning, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 offers better value for routine operations.

Output costs matter too. Claude 3 Opus charges $75.00/1M output tokens vs $15.00 for Claude Sonnet 4.6. For generation-heavy workloads (content creation, code generation, summarization), output pricing often dominates your bill. Claude Sonnet 4.6 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 Opus when:

• You're already using Anthropic's API ecosystem

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when:

• Budget is a primary concern
• You need a larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
• You need more capabilities (code, computer-use)
• You need longer outputs (up to 65,536 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 Opus (Anthropic)

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Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Claude 3 Opus or Claude Sonnet 4.6?▼

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper for input tokens at $3.00 per million tokens vs $15.00 for Claude 3 Opus — that's 80% savings on input costs.

What is the context window difference between Claude 3 Opus and Claude Sonnet 4.6?▼

Claude 3 Opus supports 200,000 tokens while Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports 1,000,000 tokens — a difference of 800,000 tokens in favor of Claude Sonnet 4.6.

Which model is better for AI Chatbot?▼

Both models support text. For ai chatbot, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the lower-cost option, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 offers a larger context window (1,000,000 vs 200,000 tokens). Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 for budget sensitivity or Claude Sonnet 4.6 for longer context tasks.

Which model has better overall pricing for heavy usage?▼

At 100 requests/day with 1,000 input and 500 output tokens each, Claude 3 Opus costs about $157.50/month and Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs about $31.50/month. Overall, Claude Sonnet 4.6 has lower combined input + output rates ($3.00 in, $15.00 out) vs Claude 3 Opus.