Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026noindex (thin pair)
This page compares Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) and Claude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. Claude Sonnet 5 wins on output price at $10/1M. Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 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.
Anthropic
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6). Preview until a second source matches.
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic workhorse. Official $2/$10 per 1M tokens made permanent on Aug 10 2026.
Instant pairwise benchmark recalculation across 400+ LLMs
Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.
Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy
Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness
Cost per million tokens and max context window length
Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.
No shared data
No shared data
$5.00/1M cheaper
Simulate monthly production API costs based on published $/1M tokens.
Claude Sonnet 5 is estimated to save $110.00/month ($1,320/year).
Need SWE-bench on both sides.
Lower output list price ($10/1M).
Need TTFT on both sides.
Larger window (1M).
Claude Sonnet 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 | Claude Sonnet 5 | Lower output list price ($10/1M). |
| Voice / low-latency UI | insufficient data | Need TTFT on both sides. |
| Long-document RAG | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Larger window (1M). |
| Screenshots / vision | Claude Sonnet 5 | Claude Sonnet 5 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog. |
Usually Sonnet 5 vs Opus 5. Coding delta versus output $/1M. The workhorse question.
Aug 10 2026 made the $2/$10 list permanent. Sonnet is the default Claude unless the repo is actually on fire.
Most of Opus 4.5 coding at a mid-tier price. Sonnet 5 replaced it as the buy; 4.5 remains a compare baseline.
No comments posted on this matchup yet. Be the first to share an evaluation note!
The real PNG is generated at /compare/claude-sonnet-4-6-vs-claude-sonnet-5/opengraph-image for crawlers.
Verified head-to-head card
