Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026noindex (thin pair)

Claude Opus 5 vs Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 benchmark

Name: Claude Opus 5 vs Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Claude Opus 5 (Anthropic) and Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins on output price at $15/1M. Claude Opus 5 has the larger context window (1M tokens). Every cell below is a dated snapshot from a named public source — we do not invent missing scores, and we do not run SWE-bench ourselves.

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Anthropic

Claude Opus 5

Anthropic current default flagship. Official API $5/$25 per 1M tokens and a 1M context window (Anthropic, Jul 24 2026).

Elo 1,624$50/1M out

Anthropic

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6). Preview until a second source matches.

$15/1M out

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Model B

Quick vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude Opus 5 (7)vsAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (2)

Claude Opus 5: 7W (78%)Overall: Claude Opus 5Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 2W (22%)

← Claude Opus 51 tiesAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 →

Claude Opus 5 (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,624vs—

Coding Elo

1,618vs—

SWE-bench

79.2%vs—

LiveBench

74.8%vs—

GPQA Diamond

87.1%vs—

Claude Opus 5: 5WAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 0W

Claude Opus 5 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

72 tok/svs—

Time to first token

310 msvs—

Claude Opus 5: 2WAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 0W

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$50/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$10/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

1Mvs1M

Claude Opus 5: 0WAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 2W

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect

Percentile 0–100

Dimensional AdvantageClaude Opus 5 4/6

Preference Elo

No shared data

Throughput Speed

No shared data

Price Efficiency

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

$35.00/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

1,624

EloHigh is better

—

Code Elo

High is better

1,618

Code EloHigh is better

—

LiveBench

High is better

74.8%

LiveBenchHigh is better

—

SWE-bench

High is better

79.2%

SWE-benchHigh is better

—

GPQA

High is better

87.1%

GPQAHigh is better

—

TTFT

Low is better

310 ms

TTFTLow is better

—

Speed

High is better

72 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

—

In $

Low is better

$10/1M

In $Low is better

$3/1M+233%

Out $

Low is better

$50/1M

Out $Low is better

$15/1M+233%

Context

High is better

ContextHigh is better

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs based on published $/1M tokens.

Save up to 70% with Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

Claude Opus 5$1,100.00 / mo

In: $350.00Out: $750.00

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

Estimated Cost Delta

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 is estimated to save $770.00/month ($9,240/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6:Pick Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 when you are optimizing output cost.
2
Claude Opus 5:Pick Claude Opus 5 for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Lower output list price ($15/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGClaude Opus 5

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionClaude Opus 5

Claude Opus 5 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6	Lower output list price ($15/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	Claude Opus 5	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Claude Opus 5	Claude Opus 5 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

compareAug 10, 2026

Sonnet vs Opus in 2026: same family, different invoice

Usually Sonnet 5 vs Opus 5. Coding delta versus output $/1M. The workhorse question.

compareJul 24, 2026

Claude vs Gemini: coding, Elo, and output price — not a brand mashup

Top Anthropic vs top Google. Usually Opus 5 vs 3.6 Pro. Two different invoices.

compareJul 24, 2026

Claude vs GPT benchmark: this hub always remaps to the current Elo leaders

Not a frozen 2025 article. Today that is usually Opus 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol. Dated cells, not a brand fight.

launchJul 24, 2026

Claude Opus 5 is Anthropic’s default flagship — how to read it on CompareLLM

Jul 24 2026 official API at $5/$25 and a 1M window. Preference Elo is taste, not a coding exam.

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LIVE

Anthropic

Claude Opus 5

Elo 1,624

LiveBench74.8%

SWE-bench79.2%

Speed72 tok/s

Output cost$50/1M

Anthropic

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Elo n/a

LiveBench—

SWE-bench—

Speed—

Output cost$15/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Opus 5 or Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6?: We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, Claude Opus 5 or Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6?: SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 output tokens are $15/1M versus $50/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Claude Opus 5 or Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6?: We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?: Claude Opus 5 accepts 1M tokens versus 1M.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude Opus 5 and Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Claude Opus 5 matchups →|All Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 matchups →

Claude Opus 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8 (previous opus)Claude Fable 5 vs Claude Opus 5 Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 5 Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 5 Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 5 Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude Opus 5

Claude Opus 5 vs Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude Opus 5 (7)vsAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (2)

Claude Opus 5: 7W (78%)Overall: Claude Opus 5Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 2W (22%)

← Claude Opus 51 tiesAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 →

Claude Opus 5 (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,624vs—

Coding Elo

1,618vs—

SWE-bench

79.2%vs—

LiveBench

74.8%vs—

GPQA Diamond

87.1%vs—

Claude Opus 5: 5WAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 0W

Claude Opus 5 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

72 tok/svs—

Time to first token

310 msvs—

Claude Opus 5: 2WAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 0W

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$50/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$10/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

1Mvs1M

Claude Opus 5: 0WAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 2W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Lower output list price ($15/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGClaude Opus 5

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionClaude Opus 5

Claude Opus 5 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6	Lower output list price ($15/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	Claude Opus 5	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Claude Opus 5	Claude Opus 5 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Opus 5 or Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6?

We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.

Which is better at coding, Claude Opus 5 or Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6?

SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 output tokens are $15/1M versus $50/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Claude Opus 5 or Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6?

We do not have TTFT for both models.

Which has the larger context window?

Claude Opus 5 accepts 1M tokens versus 1M.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude Opus 5 and Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

No shared data

No shared data

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Sonnet vs Opus in 2026: same family, different invoice

Claude vs Gemini: coding, Elo, and output price — not a brand mashup

Claude vs GPT benchmark: this hub always remaps to the current Elo leaders

Claude Opus 5 is Anthropic’s default flagship — how to read it on CompareLLM

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

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CompareLLM Matrix

Claude Opus 5

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

No shared data

No shared data

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Sonnet vs Opus in 2026: same family, different invoice

Claude vs Gemini: coding, Elo, and output price — not a brand mashup

Claude vs GPT benchmark: this hub always remaps to the current Elo leaders

Claude Opus 5 is Anthropic’s default flagship — how to read it on CompareLLM

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

Claude Opus 5

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons