Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol benchmark

Name: Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Claude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic) and GPT-5.6 Sol (OpenAI) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, GPT-5.6 Sol is ahead by 52 points (1,608 vs 1,556; seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, GPT-5.6 Sol resolves 77.6% versus 73.8% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). Claude Sonnet 5 streams faster (118 tok/s) while Claude Sonnet 5 is the cheaper output token ($10/1M). GPT-5.6 Sol has the larger context window (1.1M 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 Sonnet 5

Anthropic workhorse. Official $2/$10 per 1M tokens made permanent on Aug 10 2026.

Elo 1,556$10/1M out

OpenAI

GPT-5.6 Sol

OpenAI 5.6 flagship tier. Official API $5/$30 per 1M tokens (OpenAI pricing, Jul 30 2026 update left Sol unchanged).

Elo 1,608$30/1M out

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Instant pairwise benchmark recalculation across 400+ LLMs

Model A

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 Sonnet 5 (4)vsGPT-5.6 Sol (6)

Claude Sonnet 5: 4W (40%)Overall: GPT-5.6 SolGPT-5.6 Sol: 6W (60%)

← Claude Sonnet 5GPT-5.6 Sol →

GPT-5.6 Sol (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,556vs1,608

Coding Elo

1,562vs1,602

SWE-bench

73.8%vs77.6%

LiveBench

70.4%vs73.9%

GPQA Diamond

82.8%vs86.8%

Claude Sonnet 5: 0WGPT-5.6 Sol: 5W

Claude Sonnet 5 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

118 tok/svs84 tok/s

Time to first token

175 msvs270 ms

Claude Sonnet 5: 2WGPT-5.6 Sol: 0W

Claude Sonnet 5 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$10/1Mvs$30/1M

Input price

$2/1Mvs$5/1M

Context window

1Mvs1.1M

Claude Sonnet 5: 2WGPT-5.6 Sol: 1W

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 AdvantageGPT-5.6 Sol 4/6

Preference Elo

GPT-5.6 Sol

52 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

Claude Sonnet 5

34 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

Claude Sonnet 5

$20.00/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

1,556

EloHigh is better

1,608+3%

Code Elo

High is better

1,562

Code EloHigh is better

1,602+3%

LiveBench

High is better

70.4%

LiveBenchHigh is better

73.9%+5%

SWE-bench

High is better

73.8%

SWE-benchHigh is better

77.6%+5%

GPQA

High is better

82.8%

GPQAHigh is better

86.8%+5%

TTFT

Low is better

+54%175 ms

TTFTLow is better

270 ms

Speed

High is better

+40%118 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

84 tok/s

In $

Low is better

+150%$2/1M

In $Low is better

$5/1M

Out $

Low is better

+200%$10/1M

Out $Low is better

$30/1M

Context

High is better

ContextHigh is better

1.1M+5%

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

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

Save up to 65% with Claude Sonnet 5

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

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

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

Claude Sonnet 5$220.00 / mo

In: $70.00Out: $150.00

GPT-5.6 Sol$625.00 / mo

In: $175.00Out: $450.00

Estimated Cost Delta

Claude Sonnet 5 is estimated to save $405.00/month ($4,860/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
GPT-5.6 Sol:Pick GPT-5.6 Sol when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
Claude Sonnet 5:Pick Claude Sonnet 5 when you are optimizing output cost.
3
Claude Sonnet 5:Pick Claude Sonnet 5 when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGPT-5.6 Sol

Higher SWE-bench (77.6%).

High-volume chatClaude Sonnet 5

Lower output list price ($10/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIClaude Sonnet 5

Lower TTFT (175 ms).

Long-document RAGGPT-5.6 Sol

Larger window (1.1M).

Screenshots / visionGPT-5.6 Sol

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-5.6 Sol).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	GPT-5.6 Sol	Higher SWE-bench (77.6%).
High-volume chat	Claude Sonnet 5	Lower output list price ($10/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Claude Sonnet 5	Lower TTFT (175 ms).
Long-document RAG	GPT-5.6 Sol	Larger window (1.1M).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-5.6 Sol	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-5.6 Sol).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

compareAug 12, 2026

Grok vs ChatGPT: price and Elo, not a personality contest

Brand hub remaps to top xAI vs top OpenAI. After Aug 12 that is Grok 4.6 vs Sol.

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.

priceAug 10, 2026

Claude Sonnet 5 at $2/$10: the 2026 Anthropic workhorse

Aug 10 2026 made the $2/$10 list permanent. Sonnet is the default Claude unless the repo is actually on fire.

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.

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LIVE

Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 5

Elo 1,556

LiveBench70.4%

SWE-bench73.8%

Speed118 tok/s

Output cost$10/1M

OpenAI

GPT-5.6 Sol

Elo 1,608

LiveBench73.9%

SWE-bench77.6%

Speed84 tok/s

Output cost$30/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol?: GPT-5.6 Sol has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,608). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol?: GPT-5.6 Sol leads SWE-bench at 77.6% vs 73.8%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Claude Sonnet 5 output tokens are $10/1M versus $30/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol?: Claude Sonnet 5 has the lower time-to-first-token (175 ms vs 270 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?: GPT-5.6 Sol accepts 1.1M 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 Sonnet 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Claude Sonnet 5 matchups →|All GPT-5.6 Sol matchups →

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 (previous sonnet)GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5 (previous gpt-flagship)GPT-5 vs Claude Sonnet 5 GPT-5.6 Terra vs Claude Sonnet 5 Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5 GPT-4.5 Orion vs Claude Sonnet 5

Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude Sonnet 5 (4)vsGPT-5.6 Sol (6)

Claude Sonnet 5: 4W (40%)Overall: GPT-5.6 SolGPT-5.6 Sol: 6W (60%)

← Claude Sonnet 5GPT-5.6 Sol →

GPT-5.6 Sol (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,556vs1,608

Coding Elo

1,562vs1,602

SWE-bench

73.8%vs77.6%

LiveBench

70.4%vs73.9%

GPQA Diamond

82.8%vs86.8%

Claude Sonnet 5: 0WGPT-5.6 Sol: 5W

Claude Sonnet 5 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

118 tok/svs84 tok/s

Time to first token

175 msvs270 ms

Claude Sonnet 5: 2WGPT-5.6 Sol: 0W

Claude Sonnet 5 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$10/1Mvs$30/1M

Input price

$2/1Mvs$5/1M

Context window

1Mvs1.1M

Claude Sonnet 5: 2WGPT-5.6 Sol: 1W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGPT-5.6 Sol

Higher SWE-bench (77.6%).

High-volume chatClaude Sonnet 5

Lower output list price ($10/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIClaude Sonnet 5

Lower TTFT (175 ms).

Long-document RAGGPT-5.6 Sol

Larger window (1.1M).

Screenshots / visionGPT-5.6 Sol

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-5.6 Sol).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	GPT-5.6 Sol	Higher SWE-bench (77.6%).
High-volume chat	Claude Sonnet 5	Lower output list price ($10/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Claude Sonnet 5	Lower TTFT (175 ms).
Long-document RAG	GPT-5.6 Sol	Larger window (1.1M).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-5.6 Sol	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-5.6 Sol).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,608). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol?

GPT-5.6 Sol leads SWE-bench at 77.6% vs 73.8%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Claude Sonnet 5 output tokens are $10/1M versus $30/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the lower time-to-first-token (175 ms vs 270 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.

Which has the larger context window?

GPT-5.6 Sol accepts 1.1M 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 Sonnet 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol 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

GPT-5.6 Sol

Claude Sonnet 5

Claude Sonnet 5

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Grok vs ChatGPT: price and Elo, not a personality contest

Sonnet vs Opus in 2026: same family, different invoice

Claude Sonnet 5 at $2/$10: the 2026 Anthropic workhorse

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

Cast Your Matchup Vote

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CompareLLM Matrix

Claude Sonnet 5

GPT-5.6 Sol

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

GPT-5.6 Sol

Claude Sonnet 5

Claude Sonnet 5

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Grok vs ChatGPT: price and Elo, not a personality contest

Sonnet vs Opus in 2026: same family, different invoice

Claude Sonnet 5 at $2/$10: the 2026 Anthropic workhorse

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

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

Claude Sonnet 5

GPT-5.6 Sol

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons