Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
At a Glance
| Compare | Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $3.00Anthropic ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 | $3.00Anthropic ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $15.00Anthropic ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 | $15.00Anthropic ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 200K | 1,000K |
| Model facts checked | Sep 3, 2026View model evidence → | Sep 3, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| ARC-AGI-1verified-v1-613c385b0c93 · verified_score · leader | 63.6774% of row best · percent · Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Thinking 32K) | 86.50100% of row best · percent · Claude Sonnet 4.6 (High) |
| ARC-AGI-2verified-v2-be40992860f9 · verified_score · leader | 13.6123% of row best · percent · Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Thinking 32K) | 60.42100% of row best · percent · Claude Sonnet 4.6 (High) |
| LMArena Document Arenadocument-2026-09-13-a64ca3b12b6e · arena_rating · leader | 1,449.8198% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929; 95% CI [1443.68972646, 1455.92640287]; votes 31455; rank 28 | 1,482.24100% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6; 95% CI [1476.36427265, 1488.10617859]; votes 57813; rank 11 |
| LMArena Search Arenasearch-2026-10-13-a64ca3b12b6e · arena_rating · leader | 1,160.2795% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-5-search; 95% CI [1155.14751166, 1165.38826265]; votes 144153; rank 31 | 1,220.50100% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6-search; 95% CI [1216.03052081, 1224.97904735]; votes 173986; rank 12 |
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-10-15-a64ca3b12b6e · arena_rating · leader | 1,434.5898% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929-high-32k; 95% CI [1431.82164426, 1437.34230911]; votes 83940; rank 88 | 1,457.87100% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6; 95% CI [1454.37156748, 1461.36302648]; votes 70931; rank 41 |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above | 0 benchmark wins | 5 benchmark winsOverall lead |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Family | Claude 4 | Claude 4 |
| Model | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
| Version | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2025-09-29 | 2026-02-17 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-01-01 | 2025-08-01 |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 200K | 1,000K |
| Total parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| Active parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| License | Unknown | Unknown |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Provider access | Anthropic (Standard) | Anthropic (Standard), Deepinfra (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools |
Claude Sonnet 4.5 Capabilities
Claude Sonnet 4.6 Capabilities
Related Comparisons
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|---|---|---|---|
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Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  GPT-5 NanoOpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | GPT-5 ProOpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | GPT-5.1OpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | GPT-5.2OpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | GPT-5.2 ProOpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | o3OpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs | o3-proOpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | vs |  Qwen3 VL FlashQwen | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 FAQs
Is Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6 better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Claude Sonnet 4.6, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is $3.00 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $3.00 per million tokens, so they are tied on this metric. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is $15.00 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $15.00 per million tokens, so they are tied on this metric.
Which has a larger context window, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the larger sourced context window. Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 200,000 tokens and Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports 1,000,000 tokens.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads the current overall benchmark count. The result uses 5 protocol-matched benchmarks from 2 publishers; it is not a universal quality score.
Can Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6 be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same sourced self-hosting status: unsupported. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is not marked open weight; Claude Sonnet 4.6 is not marked open weight.
Can Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 understand images?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is documented with image input; Claude Sonnet 4.6 is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the larger sourced maximum output. Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 64,000 tokens and Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports 128,000 tokens.
Do Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 support reasoning and tool use?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Claude Sonnet 4.6: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has 1 sourced provider route; Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 2, so Claude Sonnet 4.6 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.