Claude Opus 4.1 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
Compare Anthropic and Anthropic AI models
Cost Comparison (1000 input + 500 output tokens, 100 requests/day)
Claude Opus 4.1
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Cost Differences
Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs less than Claude Opus 4.1
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Claude Opus 4.1 | 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 | 32,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Category | flagship | balanced |
| Capabilities | textvisioncodereasoning | textvisioncodereasoningcomputer-use |
| Release Date | 8/5/2025 | 2/18/2026 |
Claude Opus 4.1 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6: Which Should You Choose?
Choosing between Claude Opus 4.1 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 Opus 4.1. Meanwhile, Claude Sonnet 4.6 offers a significantly larger context window at 1,000,000 tokens vs 200,000 for Claude Opus 4.1.
These models target different tiers: Claude Opus 4.1 is a flagship model while Claude Sonnet 4.6 is balanced. This means they're optimized for different workloads. Claude Opus 4.1 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 Opus 4.1 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 Opus 4.1 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 (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 Opus 4.1 (Anthropic)
Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic)
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